He's Gone (M version)
by TheLoneRebels 2.0
Summary: Star Wars meets Frozen! When disaster strikes, Cody and Rex end up in an unknown land and meet a woman with powers that make even the Jedi look normal. Cody falls for Elsa, while Ahsoka mourns the apparent loss of her mate. But not for long, because Elsa wants to help Cody fix his galaxy and end the war. Rexsoka. Elsody. Some Anidala and Depiwan. This story floats between pages!
1. Prologue

**Hello there!**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own any Star Wars or Frozen characters and any OC's that resemble real people are entirely coincidental. **

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**There is an explanation of how my calendar works and a list of helpful translations for my commonly used Star Wars words in 'Flame of Hope - Everyone' if you're curious. (Where a bit more of this story has already been written.)**

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**A/N: Due to how stories tend to get ignored if they are in the crossover section, this story will float between the Clone Wars page and the Frozen page, depending on which one is most appropriate to the latest chapter posted. **

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** He's Gone **

**Prologue:**

_D83/20 BBY, Coruscant_

Ahsoka walked down the steps of the Temple as silent tears slithered like shards of melting ice down her cheeks, feeling as if the judgmental weight of the galaxy still sat on her shoulders,.

Leaving Anakin and the Jedi way of life behind was, without question, the hardest thing she'd ever done and the guilt was already eating away at her.

Feeling her Master's pain and sense of betrayal through their Force bond was going to break her heart before she even made it to street level at this rate, but she couldn't bear to shut him out. She was worried that he'd fall into one of his rages if she did, which was never a good thing. And they'd been getting so much worse lately. So she left the bond open and sent as much comfort to him as she could, considering her own state-of-mind.

But she just couldn't stay. Not in a place where no one had trusted her. Not in a place where the Chancellor's influence was so rampant that the Jedi couldn't even believe one of their own over his opinion. Not in a place where the emotionally stilted Master Windu had the final say.

_Stars, I still can't believe he and the Council tried to pass all of this off as my Knighthood trials. This wasn't my trial. This was theirs. And they failed. _

_They failed. _

_They failed Anakin. And they failed me. _

_The rift between Anakin and Obi-Wan is only going to grow larger from this, unless they find some way to start telling each other the truth. And I just can't see that happening; they're both too stubborn and determined to make it to the end of the war with their pride intact. _

_Rex mentioned that Master Krell had foreseen the fall of the Order because of the war. I think I can see it already. The Order is blind to what they have become. What they are driving Anakin into becoming; a soldier falling closer and closer to the Dark side. Barriss was right about that. _

_The Order is doomed. My Masters are doomed._

_I wish I could talk then into leaving as well, but if they haven't done it yet for Padmè or Satine, they're not going to do so for me. _

_It's all just so... wrong._

Her thoughts had brought her to the bottom of the long staircase and into a big courtyard, which meant she had to make a decision as to what to do next. She had a few things in her room that she wanted to get, but she also didn't want to spend another second at the Temple right now.

And that thought was enough to make the decision for her. Leaving her things for later, Ahsoka turned away from the entrance into the Temple and aimed for another set of stairs that led to one of the smaller Temple hangars. (Fortunately, not the one that Barriss had blown up.)

Upon arrival, she found the hangar mostly deserted, except for a few mechanics working on broken speeders and Rex, who was leaning up against the grey and red GAR issue speeder he'd driven Ahsoka and Anakin in from the military base to the Temple after she'd been released.

Seeing him there, waiting so patiently for word of what was going on, was enough to snap the fragile control she had on her battered emotions. All of the adrenaline fuelled fear, the exhaustion of waiting in cells with an aura of misery and judgement permeating the air, the crushing betrayals from her friends and people she'd looked up to; it finally found an outlet and she couldn't stop it.

"Rex," she sobbed as she started to run.

The startled clone Captain barely had time to open his arms before a bundle of quivering female Togruta was barrelling into his chest. He looked down at her in astonishment as she wrapped her arms around him and gasped terrible sounding sobs into chest armour, and then he closed his arms around her slender frame and hugged her back. "There, there. Shhh. It's okay, little one. Whatever it is. It's okay. I've got you," he murmured against the soft skin covering her hollow boned montral.

_What the kriff did they do to my Commander?! I've never seen her cry like this. Never. She's always so fragging strong, even when she's badly injured. Kark, even when she thought she was going to die from that virus, she never shed a tear. _

Ahsoka tried to bury herself into Rex's armour as he kept murmuring nonsense to her and patting her back gently, if a little awkwardly, so grateful for his calm strength, she couldn't even express it. She'd needed someone to hug her so much over the past five days, someone to tell her that everything was going to be okay, and she'd had no one.

Okay, that wasn't strictly true. Anakin and Padmè had tried to comfort her as much as they could, but Ahsoka just couldn't collapse like this in front of either of them. They always expected her to be strong, so she was.

But Rex... He was different. He'd always done everything he could to take care of her. And it wasn't just his conditioning to protect the Jedi. None of the other clones were so dedicated to making sure she stayed hydrated and fed while on the battlefield for hours or days at a time. None of the other clones protested when she put herself on the frontline over and over again. None of the other clones made it their personal mission to find her a decent place to sleep while in the field. None of the other clones had let her use their thigh, or chest, or shoulder as a pillow on countless occasions when Anakin wasn't available for sleeping on and she was too tired to go find her bed.

None of the other clones were Rex.

In fact, no one else in the galaxy was Rex.

He'd been her best friend from the day she'd met him on Christophsis, and she knew he'd still be her best friend till the day one of them met their end, probably way before they should.

Rex was her rock and she wasn't ashamed to admit it.

At least, not to him.

She sucked in a shuddering breath and made a solid attempt at controlling her emotions again. Ahsoka was only crying a little when she looked up at his concerned face. A face cut deep by lines of stress and laughter so many years before they should have settled there. A rugged face that she wanted to look at for the rest of her life. "I've..." sniff, "Left the..." sniff again. _Stupid runny nose. _She wiped it as surreptitiously as possible on the stiff armorweave of her vambrace. "The Order, Rex."

His brows furrowed even deeper, and his golden brown eyes shone with sympathy. "Oh, Soka." He used a gloved thumb to gently brush the tears off her face.

"For good."

"Kriff. It was that bad then?"

She nodded and then nestled her cheek into his large hand, closing her eyes at the comfort he radiated, and then leaned her other cheek against his chest armour again. She sighed when he started stroking her back lek gently in a soothing motion, that he knew from experience would either calm her down or put her to sleep if she was already calm. "I don't know what I'm going to do now," she whispered. "I've spent my entire life training to become a Jedi Master, and now I'm just a washed out Padawan. I have no credits and no place to go. I have no purpose anymore."

Rex's heart felt like it was going to shatter in sympathetic pieces from the misery and defeat in her tone. And that just wouldn't do. His little Commander was strong and full of life. He just needed to remind her of that.

Still holding her tight to him with one arm around her back, he used the other hand to tuck under her chin and make her look up at him again. "Of course you have a purpose. You just have to find a new one. You have so many useful skills, it shouldn't be hard to find a job. You can fly anything. You're great with mechanics. You can fight like a Mando even without your lightsabres. You're smart and know half a dozen languages and can read another handful. You should be able to walk up to any job you want and they'd be stupid not to offer it to you."

Ahsoka's breath caught. Because he was right. So very, very right. _I CAN do anything I put my mind to. _"Rex... Thank you," she breathed as she hugged him tighter again.

He grinned down at her. "Just doing my job as your Captain. And as far as someplace to stay until you can afford your own... I know of a certain Senator who happens to adore you and has an absolutely massive apartment." His mouth quirked up a little higher on one side at the look of dawning relief in her huge sky blue eyes. "I'd offer to hide you in one of the rooms on the base," he joked, "But that's probably more trouble than it's worth since I'm rarely planetside. You'll be much more comfortable with Amidala."

She pulled her arms from his waist and flung them around his neck instead, going on her tiptoes and planting a smacking kiss on his stubbled cheek. (He'd understandably been a little too preoccupied lately to keep up with his grooming.) "Stars, Rex, I love you. You're the best."

And then they froze, staring into each other's eyes, as they both realized what she'd said.

_Did I just say that out loud?_

She could barely breathe as the weight of knowledge settled on her chest.

She loved Rex. Had probably always loved Rex. And not just like a big brother like she did with Anakin. She loved him like a mate. She'd always thought of him as incredibly handsome and strong. He was dedicated, loyal, determined, and sometimes even more stubborn than herself, which was saying something.

He was a perfect mate for her.

And now... Now she wasn't a Jedi anymore, which meant that she could explore the love and hope she thought she saw in his eyes. And if she was honest with herself, her previously unacknowledged love for Rex might have played a small part in her decision to leave the Order.

She had no desire to be torn apart by conflicting loyalties like Anakin was. Nor to live in denial of love like Obi-Wan did.

Ahsoka was free, and with that feeling, for the first time in her life, she realized that she might have been a slave to the Republic and the Order without knowing it.

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_Did she just say that?_

Rex couldn't believe it, but he basked in the words like a man offered a drink of water after three days in the desert without one.

Because he'd loved Ahsoka since pretty much the first day they'd met.

She'd been such a fearless and feisty little thing that he just couldn't help himself. The dynamic of it had been weird, considering she was technically two or three years older than him, but didn't even come close to looking or acting like it. So he'd found a good place in his head where he called it brotherly love and just accepted it for what it was.

And then, one day about a month or so ago, he'd realized that she was a taller, curvier, and decidedly more grown up fearless and feisty little thing, and his love hadn't been happy with being just the brotherly sort anymore.

He'd had to quash it down with every ounce of determination he had, knowing that she was a Jedi and could never return his affection without fighting against her morals, and that he was a clone owned by the Republic and that he wasn't allowed to love and marry.

But now... Now she'd said it. She'd said she loved him and he just didn't care about what he was allowed or not allowed to do anymore.

His arm tightened around her back, holding her up on her toes, and his other hand cupped the back of her head as he searched her eyes almost desperately. "Do you? Do you really?" _Because I really need you to. I need you to love me as much as I love you._

Ahsoka gasped as the faint Force Bond she's always had with Rex leapt and danced and quivered within her soul in excitement, strengthening to something even stronger than what she had with Anakin, and his last thought appeared clearly in her mind. She cupped his face in both of her hands and smiled hopefully. "You love me too?"

He blinked and gulped, hand tightening around the top of her back lek without his knowing it. He'd figured out from observation that she could talk telepathically to Anakin and General Kenobi when she wanted to. He hadn't known that she could hear his thoughts too. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. _How long has she been able to do that? There are some things she just shouldn't hear. _ "You heard that?" he asked to confirm.

She smiled wider, confidence growing as his waned slightly, ignoring the slight discomfort of his hold. "I did. A strong Force bond will do that." His look of horror wasn't what she expected and it hurt her for a moment until she read enough of his emotions to piece together why. She was quick to reassure him. "But only what you want me to hear. Promise. You have to think something at me specifically because you have very good natural shields."

His hand relaxed on her lek, and his expression turned almost wicked as he began stroking it again, but in something that couldn't be called a soothing fashion no matter how you looked at it. He wished he wasn't wearing a glove. "In that case..." His eyes glittered like gems as he lowered his head to hers, touching their foreheads together. _"I do love you. I always have. I love you more than anything."_

Ahsoka almost felt like crying again. But this time with overwhelming joy. Everything she'd gone though over the last few days almost felt worth it if it meant that it had led to this moment. She didn't need to be a Jedi to have a purpose. She just needed Rex's faith and love. At that moment, it felt like more than enough to last her a lifetime.

She smiled tremulously at him, arms tightening around his neck as little shivers made their way through her body from his caresses. She closed her eyes and sent back, _"I love you more than anything too." _

_"Good. That's good," _he thought back in relief and joy as he closed the remaining distance between their lips and kissed her with the tentative pressure of a butterfly landing on a flower, unsure of its welcome.

Her plush lips turned up in a quick smile before she pushed back and kissed him with more confidence than she felt, throwing her heart and soul into it.

Rex groaned and picked her up entirely to get a better angle, using just the one arm. She moaned into his kiss at the show of strength and wrapped her legs around his waist.

They didn't stop kissing for a very, very long time.

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After taking Ahsoka out for dinner at Dex's, where she took great comfort in indulging in two whole slices of Sic-Six-Layer cake, Rex dropped her off at the street level entrance to Padme's apartment building. She jumped out of the speeder and then leaned back in to pick up the duffle bag that contained all of her worldly possessions.

He leaned towards her from the driver's seat. "Do you want me to wait, to make sure you'll be welcome here?"

She shook her head and leaned over the side of the grey speeder even further to kiss him quickly. "No, I'm sure she won't kick me out, at least for a few nights anyway. And I'm hoping that she'll like my idea."

Rex smiled at her in a show of confidence, running his bare fingers over the white marking on her cheek. (He'd pulled off his gloves back at the Temple hanger when he couldn't stand the agony of not feeling her satin skin firsthand anymore.) "She'd be stupid not to like it, and the Senator never struck me as stupid."

"No. Padmè's definitely not that," she laughed. She kissed him again and then pulled back, shouldering her bag. "You should get back to the base before they start looking for you. Send me a thought whenever you want to talk and hopefully we'll see each other again before you're sent back to the war with Anakin."

"Will do. And I'll make sure we do. There's no way I can stay away from you for long now that I know what it's like to hold you," he finished off with a little gruffly.

She gave him a knowing look filled with smouldering desire that went straight to his groin. He nearly groaned out loud. "I'm holding you to that, my sweet Rex," she said in the sultriest voice he'd ever heard. And that nearly had him pulling her back into the speeder with him and saying to hell with the rest of the galaxy.

Somehow, Rex kept it together enough to stay in his seat and smile like he didn't need either a freezing cold shower or a fast and desperate wank. "I'm thinking that tomorrow isn't too soon for another date, right?"

Ahsoka laughed softly. "No. Tomorrow is definitely not too soon." She started backing away from the speeder before she gave in to the lust in his eyes. _Kriff, he's so hot. I just want to kiss him forever. "Love you, Rexi."_

He watched her until she disappeared behind the ornate doors. _"Love you more, Soka."_

_"Not a chance. I definitely love you more."_

He grinned to himself as he merged the speeder back into traffic with one hand and adjusted himself to a slightly more comfortable position behind his codpiece with the other. _"We can debate that one later. Have a good night, sweetheart."_

_"You too, babe."_

_"Babe?!"_

_"Yep. Cause you're one hot babe of a man."_

_"That doesn't even make any sense."_

_"It does to me."_

_"Can't you come up with something better?"_

_"Would you rather I called you sugarpie?"_

_"Uhhhhhhh. That doesn't exactly fit the image of the badass soldier that I'm going for."_

She laughed in his mind. _"Then babe it is."_

_"I guess," _he capitulated, shaking his head as he half-concentrated on not crashing in the crazy nighttime Coruscanti traffic. _Babe. Frag. My brothers will never let me live that one down if they hear it._

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Ahsoka was still grinning from her teasing of Rex when the turbolift came to a stop at Padme's floor. It faded as she walked towards her door and was completely replaced with a look of determination as she rang the bell.

About half a minute later, the door was opened and she smiled at Threepio.

"Oh. Hello Commander Tano. You were not expected, but I'm sure you will be welcome. The Mistress always enjoys your company. Please come in. I will take you to her."

"Thank you, Threepio."

She followed the gold protocol droid down a huge hallway, and then they turned left at a junction which led out to the main balcony of the apartment. It was a multileveled and columned affair that Ahsoka had always loved.

The beautiful Senator of Naboo was seated on one of the couches. Or more specifically, seated on Anakin's lap on one of the couches. They were thoroughly engrossed in each other, making out just as passionately as she and Rex had been not that long ago. (Their first date had ended spectacularly well.) Ahsoka had caught them embracing or kissing a few times in the past, but she'd always just exited the area quietly rather than let it be known that she knew about their relationship.

Tonight, she didn't have a choice about the quiet exit until they were done because Threepio calmly said, as if nothing of a personal nature was going on right in front of him, "Commander Tano is here to see you, Mistress Padmè."

Ahsoka wanted to kill the droid and facepalm at the same time. She did neither as the couple disentangled their mouths and looked over with shocked expressions.

"Ahsoka!" they both said as Padmè moved to scramble off of Anakin's lap and Ahsoka couldn't help the giggle that emerged at how completely debauched they looked. They were both flushed and basically panting. Padmè's hair was at least half out of its braid, and his was almost standing up in places. She was just thankful they hadn't started removing articles of clothing yet.

Anakin's rather kiss swollen lips quirked up into a rueful smile as he held Padmè in place, much to her annoyance. Ahsoka had a feeling he was using the poor woman as a shield to hide a common male problem. "Hey, Snips."

"Hey, Master," she snickered.

He gave her a half-assed chiding look. "Fancy meeting you here."

She grinned at him. "Hmmmm. Fancy that."

He flicked his gaze at poor Padmè pointedly. "You don't seem surprised."

"I'm not." Ahsoka casually strolled to the other couch and dropped her bag on it before sitting and drawing her legs up into a cross-legged position on the insanely comfortable piece of furniture.

No one noticed that Threepio had already wandered off at the faint sound of the doorbell again.

He raised a brow at her as Padmè continued to try and wriggle her way free. Both Master and Padawan ignored her grumbles as they stared at each other in amused fascination.

"I take it this is what you meant when you said 'I know' earlier?" he said dryly.

Padmè huffed and settled back into his lap, rolling her eyes at her mate. Which he ignored.

Ahsoka grinned wider. "You take it correctly."

"Lovely." Anakin sighed exaggeratedly and then gave her a sincere smile of appreciation. "Thanks for keeping my secret."

"No problem, Master. You know I always have your back."

"I know." He tilted his head slightly as Padmè turned her focus on Ahsoka. She felt the weight of their curious gazes keenly. "What are you doing here, anyway?" he asked for both of them.

Ahsoka resisted the urge to pick at her leggings in discomfort, instead meeting their gazes boldly. Sort of. Not doubting for an instant that Anakin hadn't already told his mate what had happened at the Temple, Ahsoka said, "I... I was hoping that you would give me a job as your bodyguard, Padmè. And if not, at least a place to sleep until I can find another job." Despite all of her efforts to the contrary, Ahsoka's voice broke a little at the end. She ended up picking at one of the diamond cut-outs on her leggings anyway.

This time, Anakin let Padmè go when she indicated she wanted up. The Senator crossed the space and sank down on the couch beside the young Togrutan and she wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Of course you can stay here." Ahsoka's head popped back up and she smiled at the older woman thankfully. "And I would love to have you as my permanent bodyguard. You've always done such a good job of protecting me in the past. And I'm sure this would make Anakin very happy."

"It does," he said as he sank onto the couch on the other side of Ahsoka and put an arm around her too. She turned her head and grinned up at him, knowing he'd say that. (Padmè's propensity for finding danger without even trying was one of his favourite things to complain about.)

"I've been so worried about you, Snips," he continued, hugging her into his side a little more. "I didn't know what you were going to do, or where you going to stay. But Padmè had already said that she'd give you a place to live until you found your new place in the world. It makes me ecstatic to know that you want it to be with her." _And through her, me._

Ahsoka leaned into his shoulder as exhaustion set in now that she felt safe and warm and loved; she hadn't slept properly for days. "I knew you'd like the idea, Master."

He kissed her montral affectionately. "I'm glad to have you back, Ahsoka."

"You never lost me," she said softly, eyes fluttering closed before she snapped them open again.

"For a few hours, I was sure that I had," he said just as softly, a hint of pain in his tone. Padmè used the arm behind Ahsoka to stroke his dark gold curls reassuringly in a petting motion that he'd always loved, more or less fixing his mussed hair in the process. He smiled at his wife in thanks before turning his attention back to the teenager between them. "Do I even want to know where you've been?"

Ahsoka shrugged slightly, sagging a little more into his warm side. Her eyes fluttered closed again and stayed that way. "I was with Rex," she mumbled sleepily.

"Oh. That's good." He'd been afraid she'd been trudging the streets aimlessly, too depressed to notice if someone snuck up on her to do her harm.

"We're dating now," she mumbled again with a faint smile.

Anakin gawked at her, speechless.

And then she sighed softly, wrapped an arm around his waist, snuggled her head into shoulder even more, basically stage whispered, "And he's a much better kisser than Lux," and then promptly fell into a much needed and long overdue deep sleep.

Anakin nearly choked on his tongue as Padmè giggled silently from Ahsoka's other side. Holding the hand not tangled in his hair over her mouth, she flicked her eyes past Anakin. He turned to find his own Master gazing with clear bemusement at them all from the doorway, a single copper eyebrow raised nearly to his hairline.

_"Hi, Obi-Wan."_

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**A/N: H****appy belated Valentine's Day everyone! Hugs and chocolate Kisses to all of my readers. :D :D :D**


	2. Heartfelt Farewells

**A/N: ** **Sooooo, I seriously messed up with Ahsoka's age when I originally wrote this chapter, somehow having her as only 15 when she is, in fact, 16 according to my very own calendar. I have no idea what happened. So the entire ending of this chapter was rewritten on Mar 11/2020. You might want to give the lemon scene and everything after it another read. :D**

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**Heartfelt Farewells:**

_D195/20 BBY, Coruscant_

Anakin drummed the fingers of his mechanical hand against the bicep of his left arm. A new batch of clones that he didn't know gave the cross-armed and scowling Jedi a wide berth as they loaded up enough supplies onto the fleet of Venator class Star Destroyers to last them for way longer than the estimated five months they were being deployed to the Outer Rim.

It was a timeline that Anakin had strongly protested against, but had finally capitulated to when Palpatine insisted that it was necessary.

He'd already said his goodbyes to Padmè last night, but suddenly they didn't feel adequate enough anymore. He wouldn't see her for five months. _Five kriffing long months. And with her being pregnant, this is going to drive me insane. I should be home with her, taking care of her, watching her grow big with our children, not trudging around the galaxy, fighting a stupid war. _

_Force, I still can't believe we're having twins. _

It felt like a miracle to him. A miracle that they should be rejoicing in TOGETHER. Not separated by half the fragging galaxy.

He glared at what was left of the mountain of crates that still needed to be loaded and then came to a sudden decision. _Kark pat. I'm going to go see Mey. There's at least a couple more hours of work left here; plenty of time to steal half an hour with my wife. And they really don't need my help. Cody has everything well organized, as usual. _

Decision made, Anakin spun on his heel and started striding towards a different landing platform where his personal speeder was parked.

On the way, he spotted a clone in blue streaked armour, pauldron, and trimmed kama, making him easy to spot amongst the sea of clones in the area, inspecting the contents of another huge stack of crates full of weapons. _Rex. Hey. I bet he'd like a few more minutes with Snips too. I'm sure those crates are fine as they are. _

"Rex!" he called, coming to a temporary stop.

The clone Captain's helmeted head jerked upwards. "Sir?"

"Come with me."

Rex gave his stack of exciting looking, state-of-the-art weapons a longing look and then left them behind with a silent sigh. _I can check out those new grenades when I'm done with whatever Anakin wants me to do. _"Yes, General." He caught up to the waiting Jedi quickly, pulling off his helmet as he did so and tucking it under his arm, because Anakin didn't like to talk to the helmet if it wasn't necessary. It was just one of the many things that Rex liked about his General. Knowing full well that everything that needed their attention was quickly being left behind by Anakin's enthusiastic stride, he politely asked, "Can I ask where we are going, Sir?"

Anakin grinned at the man who'd always been like a brother to him in everything but name, their relationship becoming even more solidified into the category of family when Rex and Ahsoka had become romantically involved. (He didn't like to actually think about what all they got up to, but he did like that two of his favourite people were so happy together.) "We're making a quick run to the Senate Building."

Rex blinked once and then a slow grin of unrestrained delight spread across his rugged face that you'd be hard-pressed to find any other clone wearing. "That's all right, then." Rex said, in something resembling cool acceptance despite every cell in his body silently screaming, 'Soka! Soka! Soka! We're going to see Soka!'

Anakin chuckled softly, bumping his shoulder into Rex's companionably, knowing exactly how he was feeling. "I had a feeling you'd be amenable to a quick change of scenery."

The clone snorted. "I'm always up for a quick change of scenery." _Especially when the scenery in question is the hottest girl in the galaxy._

The near lope Anakin had set for them brought them to their destination only a few moments later, where Obi-Wan was just parking a speeder. The copper haired Jedi Master jumped out of his speeder and met them on their way to Anakin's. He blocked their path with an elegantly raised brow and crossed arms. "And where do you two think you're going? We're supposed to deploy in just over an hour and a half."

Anakin came to a stop in front of his former Master, Rex stalwartly at his side, and crossed his own arms while imitating Obi-Wan's look of mild censure with only slightly less panache. "And where have you been? You were supposed to be here hours ago." he countered with.

Obi-Wan actually blushed, his high cheekbones flooding with colour. "I... was delayed."

The younger Jedi somehow restrained the urge to guffaw at his Master's embarrassment. Poor Obi-Wan hadn't quite figured out how to balance his steamy new relationship with Master Billaba and his delicate Jedi sensibilities yet. "Did Depa tie you to the bed again?"

The pretty Jedi Master had apparently always had a tendre for Obi-Wan, but hadn't felt free to act on it until the Council had waived the No Attachments rule after that disaster a couple months ago with Clovis and the banks and Padmè almost getting killed. In the aftermath, Anakin had somehow gotten Padmè pregnant despite both of them being on birth control shots, and, in a show of dumbassed determination, had marched into a Council meeting and told them that he was going to be a dad and they could either accept it or kick him out, he really didn't care one way or the other.

After much debate and grumbling, they'd chosen to accept it, not willing to lose their 'Chosen One', which, of course, had opened up a floodgate of other secret relationships coming to light as other couples demanded the same freedom.

And now Obi-Wan was in his own relationship too, having learnt from his mistakes with Satine that life needed to be lived while you had it before you lost it all. Except he wasn't the dominant partner by any stretch of the imagination, and that caused the most interesting reactions from the usually suave Jedi for Anakin to laugh over.

Obi-Wan blushed even darker. "I'm not answering that."

Anakin smirked. "And that's answer enough." He neatly sidestepped around his flustered Master and hopped into his blue and gold speeder. "Come on, Rex."

Obi-Wan spun around. "Wait! Where are you going?"

Anakin started the speeder, soaking in the gentle purr of the well tuned engine. "We're going to get 'tied up' by our own girls for a few minutes."

Rex chuckled quietly as he settled into the passenger seat. "Or maybe the other way around," he said under his breath just barely loud enough for Anakin to catch.

_Gah! I didn't want to hear that! _Anakin forced an image of Ahsoka all tied up and at Rex's mercy out of his mind and returned to reassuring Obi-Wan. "We'll be back before you have time to miss us, promise."

Obi-Wan harrumphed and sighed. "Fine. But if you're even so much as a minute later than our scheduled time of departure, I'm siccing Master Yoda on you again to give you another lecture on how to be a responsible Jedi."

Anakin adopted a horrified look that wasn't entirely fake. "Force, please no. The first dozen lectures were more than enough. And all the ones after that were just torture."

Now Obi-Wan was the one smirking. "And yet you still manage to be late to nearly everything."

Anakin wrinkled his nose at Obi-Wan. "You can't talk anymore, Master-I'm-Too-Busy-Being-Shagged-To-Death-To-Show-Up-At-Work-On-Time-For-The-Third-Time-This-Week."

Obi-Wan admitted defeat by rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Just go."

Anakin exchanged a triumphant look with Rex and revved the engine. "Gone."

Obi-Wan watched the brightly painted speeder fly away at a pace that was at least twice as fast as the legal limit and just shook his head in fond resignation. _Stars, I love that boy, but my parenting skills were clearly lacking somewhere along the way. _

_And Depa thinks we should have kids together. _

_Force help me. _

* * *

Ahsoka frowned at the letter she was translating into Basic from the Hutt High Council that at first, second, and third glances, appeared to be telling the Senate that they would regretfully no longer be honouring their alliance with the Republic and that Republic ships would no longer be welcome in their space, which consisted of a rather large chunk of the Outer Rim.

The letter had been sent to Padmè because she was the one who had negotiated the alliance in the first place.

The sixteen year old teenager sighed and rubbed her aching forehead. She'd somehow ended up taking over much of the poor, departed Teckla's duties as Padmè's legislative aide and her days were filled with more reading than she'd ever had to do as a student in the Jedi Temple.

Translating reams of letters begging for help in the form of credits, food, soldiers, or all of the above that came from all over the galaxy into Basic, making a zillion copies of reports, running errands all over the Senate building, and helping Dormè with Padmè's more often than not incredibly complicated grooming and dressing routines wasn't exactly what she'd signed up for. But at least it gave her something to do. Bodyguarding the Senator had so far been a rather boring and easy job, considering they hadn't actually gone anywhere and no one had tried to assassinate her lately.

Well, except for that whole mess with Clovis, where Padmè insisted that it was more important to take her aide with her to Scipio as her only allowed companion instead of an easily recognizable ex Jedi who everyone knew was now Padmè's bodyguard thanks to the holonews. And look how that ended up.

A disaster.

At least Anakin hadn't blamed her for it.

No. He'd blamed Padmè. Being in the same apartment, Ahsoka hadn't been able to help but overhear their many fights about her friendship with Clovis, culminating in Anakin's very concerning loss of control that almost killed Clovis and had led to them almost getting a divorce, which would have been the equivalent to the end of the galaxy to Anakin. But then Padmè had snuck off with Clovis to Scipio again, deliberately leaving Ahsoka behind, and had almost died, and Anakin had gotten to do the hero thing, and all was forgiven, thank the Force.

_The stars knew, their make up sex had certainly been productive, _she thought with a secret smile as she turned her focus on the Senator who shone even brighter than normal in the Force with the additional two life signatures nestled inside her.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan had decided that the whole fiasco had maybe been a necessary evil to help Anakin see just how far he was falling and gave him the shove necessary to get his act back together. They hadn't anticipated him giving the Council a love it or leave it ultimatum, but that had turned out for the best as well as far as Ahsoka could tell.

The Jedi had seriously needed to stop keeping secrets from each other, and the number of pre-existing relationships that had come to light after the No Attachments rule was lifted just proved how desperately people needed to be loved, whether it was allowed or not. But as Anakin had been proof of, keeping your love a secret wasn't good for the mental health, and now that the galaxy knew he was married to Amidala, he'd been a literal poster boy for how bright, cheerful, and calm a Jedi could be.

Now all they needed to do was get the bill passed that allowed clones to marry, so that Ahsoka could openly claim Rex as her own. (Or the other way around, if you were talking to Rex.)

Translation now finished, she sent the file to her boss's desktop computer. "Padmè."

The senator looked up from the bill she was drafting to the young Togruta seated on one of the couches in her office, surrounded by a veritable cage of datapads. "Hmmmm?"

"I just sent you a letter from the Hutts that you should probably read right away."

Frowning, Padmè did.

"Oh, the Senate's going to love this." The sarcasm was so rampant in her tone, even an idiot would have heard it.

"I thought so."

"I swear the Hutts are going to give me an ulcer by the end of all this." Padmè sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, a sure sign that she was fighting a headache as well. (Political work was not kind to the brain.) "I guess I'll comm Jabba and find out what went wrong."

"Be sure to inquire after Stinky, that always puts him in a good mood," Ahsoka supplied helpfully. Her head swivelled towards the door as she felt the approach of two very excited and familiar Force signatures. She bounced off the couch without disturbing her carefully stacked piles of work, feeling suddenly rejuvenated. "But you might want to hold that call for a bit, our intrepid menfolk are here!"

Padmè blinked as she processed that, and then she was beaming as well, abandoning her desk just as fast as Ahsoka had her couch. "I don't know why, and I don't care," she said as they both made for the door.

Ahsoka opened it just as Anakin was reaching for the button to do it from his side. She grinned at his look of surprise. "Hey, Master," she said cheekily to the man who would always be her Master, whether she called herself a Jedi or not. (He'd illicitly made her new lightsabres to replace the green ones that had been destroyed when she was accused of murder and terrorism, and they still sparred on a near daily basis to keep her skills up. Because he'd made them, the originally clear Kyber crystals had turned blue instead of her colour of green, but they were starting to look more teal lately, which Ahsoka hoped meant that they were turning to her colour.)

"As vigilant as ever, Snips," he said in amused praise, but Ahsoka had already turned her attention to the man standing beside him.

She smiled up at Rex with her heart in her eyes and he returned the look. Neither particularly noticed or cared when Anakin swept Padmè up into his arms with a joyful twirl, too enamoured were they with looking at each other. Nor did she really register the exchange of words behind her before the older couple went silent except for faint kissing sounds.

"Rex," she said rather breathlessly after a minute.

"Soka," he breathed back.

"I thought you were leaving right away."

"We are." He flicked his gaze down the hallway, and Ahsoka got the clue to exit the office. The door slid silently closed behind her and chimed as it was locked from the inside. Taking the hint that they weren't welcome, they took up a casual stroll down the lightly populated hallway, walking as close together as they could get away with without drawing the attention of the naturally suspicious.

"Then how are you here?_ Not that I'm complaining. Any extra minutes I get to spend with you are always welcome."_

Rex beamed down her. _"Same for me, sweetheart. Same for me. _We're here because Anakin got bored with supervising the loading of supplies and decided that he wanted to spend one more stolen half hour with his wife before shipping off for the Outer Rim. I got to come along as his sort of legitimate reason for abandoning his post. _And because he knew I'd want to see you."_

_"Anakin really does have a good heart. It's nice to see it more often now. _And what was that?"

They were getting really good at holding two conversations at once. Not that it had ever been awkward, but now words and thoughts flowed smoothly with no weird pauses in their spoken conversation to cause a raised brow of curiosity from any passersby that might overhear.

"If anyone asked, Senator Amidala needed to ask me a question for her clone bill."

Ahsoka snorted softly as they paused by a nearly invisible door in the wall at the end of the chain of offices and waited for the hallway to temporarily empty of other pedestrians. "Something she couldn't ask you over the comm and couldn't wait a few hours?"

Rex shrugged, face twitching with suppressed mirth. "Admittedly, not Anakin's best excuse that he's ever come up with. Fortunately for us, he didn't have to use it. People are so used to seeing us here, they didn't even blink."

"I bet."

As the last person disappeared around the bend of the circular hallway, Ahsoka waved a hand at the card reader embedded in the wall beside the door. The light flashed to green and the door slid open. They stepped into the small space available amidst the shelving units full of cleaning and office supplies and let the door slide closed behind them.

Rex put his helmet and gloves down on the first available flat surface and then immediately crowded her up against a shelving unit, his eyes turning predatory. "Frag, I missed you," he muttered against her lips before kissing her hungrily. She hummed an agreement into his mouth and kissed him back just as passionately, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him even tighter to her.

It didn't matter that they'd last seen each other only last night at the farewell dinner that Padmè had thrown for their family circle, that now included Master Depa and her brand spanking new Padawan, Caleb Dume. Nor did it matter that they'd spent a ridiculous amount of time saying goodbye already after said dinner that included a mutual groping session that had ended with both parties gasping in pleasure. Even fourteen hours seemed like too long to be apart. Neither knew how they were going to last for five months.

Rex growled into their kiss and reached back, grabbing her hands and then raising them above her head. He guided her into holding onto a shelf. "Leave them there."

She wriggled sensuously against his armoured body, eyes heavy lidded. "What will you do to me if I don't?"

He smirked, large hands now travelling down her body from lekku to waist, pausing to caress her already erect nipples on the way by with his thumbs. "You know what happens if you move."

_Do I ever. _Ahsoka licked her lips slowly, sensuously. "Hmmmmm. Maybe you should remind me, Sir."

His eyes shot down to her lips as his hands travelled back up, now on her satin skin and raising her green, thigh length tunic trimmed in gold upwards as he moved. He capitulated to the blatant invitation and pressed his mouth to hers again, hands pausing on her lace covered breasts. _"Such a feisty little minx," _he thought to her as their tongues duelled frantically.

_"But you like me that way."_

_"Of course I do."_

He ripped his mouth from hers with a parting nip to her plump lower lip, knowing he only had a limited amount of time, and he refused to be distracted from his goal. "Little Togrutas who move their hands before I say they can get a tongue lashing," he growled in a husky voice thick with desire. "Is that what you want, baby? A tongue lashing?"

She pouted becomingly, playing the game that so turned them both on. "No, Sir. I'll be a good girl." _For now._

He smirked, head dipping down to kiss the exposed upper curve of a breast. "That's what I thought." Rex pulled the tunic up and over her head and then left it pooled on her arms behind her as a cushion for her to rest her head on against the narrow edge of a shelf. Her barely there white lace bra was pushed upwards as well to sit over her collarbones and under her lekku. And then he feasted on the bounty presented; her white tipped breasts and writhing lekku more than he could resist.

Ahsoka's eyes closed in bliss as he kissed and licked the entirety of her sensitive breasts and the ends of her lekku that hung down to them. "Ooooo, yes, love," she encouraged when he started sucking on each sensitive point in turn. "More, more, do that some more."

_"Wasn't planning on stopping," _he thought smugly, mouth too full of shivering lek to talk.

_"Oh Force, thank you!" _she thought back as shudders of escalating pleasure rippled through her body. Increasingly high pitched whines escaped her as the sensations from her lekku and breasts travelled down to her core and then back up in an electric circuit that built and built and built until she was crying his name in a shattering release, holding his head to her breast in a desperate clutch of frozen muscles.

Rex looked up at her triumphantly, full of male pride at bringing her to such a pinnacle of pleasure. He also didn't miss the fact that her hands weren't where he'd put them.

Releasing the engorged nipple with a loving lick, he moved up and kissed her panting mouth softly, then hovered there until her eyes opened again. "You disobeyed me, baby," he murmured matter-of-factly.

Ahsoka's eyes widened and then settled back to half-mast. She stroked her hands over the stubble of his short blond hair lovingly. "I'm sorry, Sir. You'll have to punish me." She sounded anything but sorry.

Chuckling, Rex kissed her enticing lips again, and then his hands moved from her ribcage to her waist. He pushed her matching green leggings and white lace panties down as far as he could over her knee high gold boots, mouth already salivating at the sight of her bare and glistening pussy etched in more white markings similar to the slowly expanding ones on her cheeks.

Then he stepped to the side and picked her up by the waist until she could grab the highest shelf far above her head.

"What?" Ahsoka looked askance at him until he sent her metal picture of what he had in mind. She smiled like a tooka. "Oh, me likey. Proceed."

"As if I was going to stop. I've had this idea in my head for days!"

She laughed and then gasped as Rex ducked and then insinuated his head between her legs that she spread for him as wide as she could with her ankles essentially tied together by her clothes. With her thighs resting on his armoured shoulders, Rex now had a perfect view of orange and white paradise. He grasped her soft bottom in his hands to help support her (and because he loved to hold it) and looked up her body to her grinning face.

"Like the view?" she giggled.

"Always. You ready for your tongue lashing?"

"Always."

Rex dove his head forward and proceeded to drive her insane, determined to leave her with a memory that would make her quiver with want every time she thought about him. So he made her come over and over and over until his wrist computer beeped a preset alarm, telling him it was time to head back to the hangar to meet Anakin.

Thankfully, he'd given himself a ten minute grace period, knowing he'd probably need it.

Sucking at her clit hard, and stroking his fingers into her channel rapidly while pressing on the spongy spot at the front that literally made her eyes roll up into her head, Rex made her cry his name one more time.

Ahsoka literally shuddered from head to toe, her arms exhausted from the hanging position for what had to be at least twenty minutes of mind numbing ecstasy. _"That was the best tongue lashing yet," _she thought, too breathless to talk.

Rex swiped up the last of her ambrosia-like juices with his grateful tongue and then ducked out from under her legs. He quickly grasped her waist and carefully lowered her trembling body to the floor. "Glad you thought so, sweetheart." He tugged her tunic off of her arms and dropped it to the floor since she seemed kind of tangled up in it, and then hugged her to his chest, pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead. "Love you, baby. I'm going to miss you so very, very much."

Regaining her strength, Ahsoka looked up and pulled his head down for a mournful kiss that tasted like her. _"Love you too. And I'm going to miss you more. At least we can still talk like this while you're gone. I wish I was going with you."_

_"So do I. Fighting isn't quite the same without you on the battlefield with us."_

Ahsoka pulled her mouth from his and ran a hand down to his codpiece. "What about you? I can feel how aroused and ready you are."

At her words and touch that he could vaguely feel as a pressure over his armour, Rex became even more aroused and ready, if that was even possible. "No time. I'll live."

She frowned. "How much time have you got left?"

He glanced at the readout on his vambrace. "Two minutes."

She grinned and dropped to her knees. "I can do two minutes."

"Oh shab," he groaned. _Frag, I love this girl._

Ahsoka's hands flew as she removed the necessary armour pieces and then tugged the leggings of his bodysuit and his tight undershorts down only as far as necessary. His big and beautiful cock sprang up at the freedom, leaking like a dripping faucet, and more than ready to be relieved of the building pressure.

She took him in her hands and her mouth engulfed him in sweet heat, swirling her tongue around his knob twice and then dipping into his leaking slit.

_Karrrrk! That's good! So good. So good. Shabla haran!_

Rex grabbed the shelving unit and concentrated on not letting his hips slam into her face demandingly like they so desperately wanted to do. He backed up almost immediately, though, when she pushed on his hips.

Ahsoka jumped up into his arms, wrapping her limbs around him. His hands grabbed her perfect bottom again and he was surging inside her tight heat as they groaned their bliss at the connection into each others mouths, kissing like they were trying to meld their faces permanently together.

Thirty seconds of pounding up into her clenching channel and lightning speed and Rex lost it. "Frag, Soka! Coming!"

_"Give it to me, babe!"_ She clenched her internal muscles down on him even harder, drawing the seed right out of him, and he poured himself into her eagerly, happy to give up every last drop of himself.

Groaning and panting like he'd just run for half a day straight (actually been there and done that), Rex kissed her again almost desperately, before reluctantly letting her down. "Stars, I love you, Ahsoka."

"I love you more, Rexi," Ahsoka said with a smug smile, pleased that she could make him fall apart so quickly, as they started putting his clothing and armour back to rights just as fast as Ahsoka had undone him.

He kissed her quickly one more time when he looked like a proper clone trooper again. "Thank you, baby. I love you. Stars, I hate to leave you like this, but I have to go."

Ahsoka handed him his gloves to put on. "It's okay. I understand, I really do." She pushed his helmet into his hands next and pushed him towards the door. "Go. I'll be fine. In fact, I'm better than fine thanks to your talented tongue."

Rex grinned quickly and then he was plunking his helmet on his head to cover his flushed face and was out the door and striding as quickly as possible without running, already a minute and a half behind schedule. Fortunately, Anakin was pretty much incapable of not driving like he was participating in a pod race, so they should be able to make it up.

As he power walked, he replied to her compliment. _"I'm not the only one with a talented tongue. Or other body parts. Kriff, you make me feel like the king of the galaxy with the things you do to me."_

Ahsoka smirked to herself as she closed the door behind him. _"That's the idea, my sweet Rexi."_ She cleaned up the mess trickling down her thighs with a handy rag from the a pile on a shelf and started putting her own clothing to rights, thankful that the material was wrinkle resistant and that she didn't have hair to fix like Padmè. (Anakin was forever messing up Padmè's hair, much to Ahsoka's and Dormè's dismay.) _"__But you haven't seen nothing yet. Just wait till my heat cycles kick in approximately two years. You're going to think you're a literal sex god."_

Rex almost ran into a blue armoured Senate Guard coming through the entrance to the hangar at the same time as he was exiting. They fumbled around each other with mumbled apologies. _"Your WHAT cycles?!"_

_"Heat cycles. You'll like them, trust me. We'll be having non-stop, animal sex for hours and hours. If we're lucky, they might start early. It's been known to happen."_

Rex gulped and all but stumbled over to Anakin's speeder, which the Jedi was already sitting in with fingers drumming on the steering wheel. _"Bloody hell!"_

She laughed in his mind. _"Just a little something to keep you warm at night without me."_ And then the gentle pressure he felt when she was mentally connected to him blinked out.

Rex could barely process what he'd just heard, but somehow climbed his numb limbs into the speeder and Anakin took off. "How was your farewell?" the tall and rather dishevelled looking young man asked.

Rex stared rather blankly ahead, not seeing the traffic they were dodging like pylons on a training course, but imagining how it would feel to bury himself inside of Ahsoka's tight heat for hours and hours on end without worrying about stupid things like recovery time. "Kriffing fantastic," he jolted himself into replying after a few awkward seconds. "And yours?"

Anakin shot his friend a proud smirk. "About the same."

"We are very lucky mookas," Rex said in a rather blissed out and dreamy voice, slumping down in his seat as his body finally relaxed from the adrenaline high.

Anakin laughed at the body language and the feelings Rex radiated. "Yes, we are." There had been a time when Anakin had cringed at the thought of the girl who was all but his litter sister getting it on, but he'd grown used to it after a month or so. It was better than the first month, when Rex had been holding off from consummating his relationship with his Padawan (which he'd whole-heartedly approved of), which Anakin had heard all about, thanks to Ahsoka complaining to Padmè about it.

Which, of course, meant that Padmè told him, because he just needed to know these things.

Not.

Sometimes, he wished his wife and Padawan weren't QUITE so close. There were some things he'd rather not know.

Like how Togrutan heat cycles were basically the complete opposite of Human menstrual cycles.

He shuddered just thinking about it, not wanting to picture his precious Padawan as a sexual being enslaved to desire.

* * *

Ahsoka walked back into Padmè's office feeling like she was floating on a cloud from the echoes of pleasure still thrumming through her body and wondering if there actually was some way to influence her heat cycles into starting early.

But the only time she'd heard about a Togrutan girl doing that was when a bonded couple experienced some sort of life or death situation together. _And I just don't see that happening with my not fighting the war with Rex anymore._

Sighing dramatically like the teenage girl she was, she flopped down onto the second large couch that didn't look like a datapad war had happened all over it, beside her friend, who was also sprawled across the cushions. As expected, Padmè's careful hairdo was a disaster, and her expensive clothes were seriously askew. She looked like she hadn't moved yet from where Anakin had left her, except to hastily toss her skits back over her legs.

The women looked at each other and just smiled with shared satisfaction, no words necessary.

(Their work induced headaches also happened to be long gone.)

* * *

_Huttese translations:_

_Kark pat - fuck it._


	3. A Bad Feeling

**A/N: Another new chapter! (Though not a very long one.) This story is growing, lol. I wrote most of this on my phone while on holiday with no computers in sight, so I'm calling even this short chapter a win. :D**

* * *

**A Bad Feeling:**

_D253/20 BBY, The Outer Rim_

"Kriff the Hutts and their blasted blockades!" Anakin all but yelled. The tightly wound Jedi marched back and forth across the bridge of the Reckless, the current flagship of their already dwindling fleet. (A fleet that was quickly approaching the end of their hyperlane, which meant a decision about where they went from there needed to be made. And soon.) "I say we run their blockade and use the hyperlane through Hutt space anyway!"

Cody hid his wince as Obi-Wan pinched the bridge of his nose in obvious frustration. Nearly two months away from his pregnant wife had General Skywalker's emotions on edge again. Cody honestly didn't want to know what Skywalker would look like by the end of the scheduled five month mission.

"Anakin," General Kenobi said patiently. (Well, as patiently as could be expected, considering they'd been rehashing the same argument about their route for the last hour. "We just can't afford to sustain any more damage between here and the repair station above Laro Prime. You know that."

"But going around Hutt space will take an extra day and a half and put us perilously close to running out of fuel! That's simply unacceptable! What if something happens?!"

Cody and the rest of the bridge crew kept their thoughts to themselves as they watched the two Generals verbally duke it out. Personally he thought they both had valid points, but he was siding with his General on this one. By everyone's calculations, they'd make it to Laro Prime with just enough fuel to sputter in. It was worth the risk to save them from more damage and loss of lives.

Rex would probably side with Skywalker, if he wasn't stuck in the medbay on Kix's orders, recovering from a concussion received during yet another battle on Saleucami. (Rex had an unfortunate habit of getting seriously injured on that planet.)

Obi-Wan visibly stifled a sigh for what had to be the fifth time already. "Nothing's going to happen, Anakin. And even if it does, then we'll simply send some of the shuttles out on a fuel run. Would you please just calm down?"

Anakin sucked in a breath, whirled around to face his friend, opened his mouth, thought better of what he was about to say and then shut it again. Cody was almost impressed as the volatile young man reined in his emotions and a look of calm acceptance settled on his face. "Fine. We'll go around. But just so you know, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Are you sure that's not just your impatience talking?" Obi-Wan teased.

Anakin only rolled his eyes with a huff of disgust and started for the exit.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Obi-Wan asked.

"I'm going to my cabin to meditate," Anakin called over his shoulder. "Maybe the Force will give me more than just a bad feeling to work with."

The door slid closed behind him and Obi-Wan stared at it with amused astonishment, shaking his head slowly once before he focused on Cody. "I've been teaching that boy for twelve years, and he's finally figured out that meditating is a good thing. I think that's a record."

Cody raised a brow. "A good record?"

Obi-Wan snorted. "Only if you're going for the worst ever Jedi awards. Don't get me wrong, Anakin is a very gifted Jedi in nearly every way that matters. Except patience, which meditating requires a lot of. I was beginning to despair that he'd never learn it, to be honest."

Cody contemplated the closed door for a moment. "Well, Sir, I think it's safe to say that he's learnt SOMETHING. I'm just not sure patience is the right word for it."

Obi-Wan grinned. "How right you are, my friend."

* * *

After meditating for a few hours and receiving nothing more than a frustratingly vague sense of doom and swirling darkness, Anakin gave up and made his way to the medbay to check on Rex and the other members of the 501st and 212th that had been injured in their last battle.

He found the large, sterile room decidedly emptier than the last time he'd been here, most of the men with blaster burns or broken limbs having been released to hobble around the ship at will. Only those with the more serious injuries were still confined to the medbay, but at least were no longer still floating in bacta tanks. Four more who were basically still immobile but awake had convinced either Kix or the med droids to push their floating beds together in a circle and were playing a rather heated game of sabacc. They greeted Anakin with a hearty round of 'Hey, General!'

Anakin paused at the edge of their circle, giving a wide smile to the mixed group of men wearing only bandages and assorted portions of black bodysuits instead of their usual armour marked in blue or orange. "Appo, Ready, Shorty, Dot. You're all looking much more chipper than the last time I saw you."

"I should hope so," Appo said with a bit of a smirk, automatically becoming their spokesperson as the highest ranked clone in the circle. "A little hole through the gut isn't going to keep me down for long."

"Of course not. I'm sure you'll be charging into battle at the front of your platoon by the time we find another swarm of clankers to fight." Anakin looked around the sea of mostly empty beds, not seeing the person he was most concerned about. "Hey. Where'd Rex go? I could have sworn he was in that bed over there."

"He was. Then he insisted he was better despite not being able to walk straight, so Kix took him for another round of tests."

Anakin frowned with worry. As far as they knew Rex had only received a relatively simple bump on the head after being accidentally hit with one of their own EMP bombs a few days ago; he should have been better by now. "That doesn't sound good. Which way?"

Appo helpfully pointed Anakin in the right direction, and a few seconds later he was barging into the private exam room.

He found Rex arguing with Kix and a medical droid heatedly enough that Kix didn't even take the time to yell at Anakin for being where he shouldn't.

"I'm telling you, I'm karking well fine!" Rex said, looking pale and gaunt in his black body suit as he did something that resembled pacing, IF one was dead drunk.

Anakin was even more concerned. _Force, I have to make sure he eats more often or Snips will kill me when we get back._

"Pardon me, but you're really not," the droid said.

His mechanical voice was overpowered by Kix's much more passionate one at the same time. "You're not fine! A kitten is stronger than you right now! Your reflexes are practically gone and your reasoning is shot! You're not going back to work until we figure out why! The bump on your head is healed and scans indicate that your brain is uninjured as well. You should be bouncing around the room right now with good health, but instead, you're bouncing OFF of everything in the room and you're dropping weight at a horrifying rate!"

Anakin watched in horror as Kix's words proved to be true, as Rex bumped into the hovering med droid as if he didn't even see it. He took a staggering step back and then his expression morphed from confusion to anger. "Get out of my way, tinny! If I had my blasters, you'd be scrapmetal already!"

_Poodoo! Rex really has lost it!_

"Rex!" the dismayed Jedi yelled from the doorway.

The clone Captain whirled around and almost fell, only just catching himself by grabbing onto the med bed. "Yes, Anakin?"

Kix looked at Rex in horror and Anakin in apology at the lack of respect; Rex always addressed him as either Sir or General unless they were in the privacy of Padme's apartment or office. Anakin gave his chief medic a subtle wave, letting him know it was okay. He kept most of his focus on his clearly ill friend. "Rex, I want you lying on that bed in the next five seconds, and that's an order."

Rex looked confused for a moment before he nodded and moved to do as ordered, if with alarmingly clumsy movements from the usually graceful man. "Of course, Anakin. Good soldiers follow orders, after all."

Anakin and Kix exchanged looks of startled alarm, because those were the words that Tup had been chanting over and over when he had a complete meltdown due to the degradation of his inhibitor chip.

He walked over to the bed and put a comforting hand on Rex's bony shoulder as the man whimpered, his brows furrowing with sudden pain. "It's okay, buddy, we'll fix you. Just think of something good for me and go to sleep."

Rex looked up at him with trust in his widely dilated eyes, a small smile forming. "Soka. Soka's something good," he whispered darting a glance at the pretending not to listen Kix.

Anakin grinned briefly. "Yes, she is." He brushed a hand over Rex's sweaty forehead, and, adding a bit of Force enhanced persuasion, he murmured, "Now sleep."

Rex immediately fell into a boneless state of unconsciousness and both Anakin and Kix exhaled in muted sighs of relief. The Jedi turned to the medic, his face settling into determined lines. "I want you to take his inhibitor chip out. It's clearly been damaged somehow."

"But we're not allowed to do that, Sir! If anyone finds out Rex doesn't have a chip, they'll send him back to Kamino for reprogramming!"

"Then we better keep this a secret, hadn't we?" Anakin's voice was like durasteel, leaving no room for argument.

Kix looked at the thin and obviously sick clone on the bed and came to a quick decision. "Yes, Sir. I'll have Aytee do the operation right away and I'll make sure none of this ever makes it onto the Captain's record."

Anakin gave Kix a wan smile. "Thank you. I'll deal with whatever personality changes this may cause quietly, but I honestly don't think it will be necessary. Rex has never been one to conform to the rules even while doing things in the most logical and efficient way possible, which is what makes him one of the best. I doubt his chip has ever worked properly in the first place."

Kix chuckled quietly. "I have a feeling you're right about that, Sir."

Anakin's smile widened. "Aren't I always?"

Kix just snorted and shooed his General out of the room.

Anakin passed the curious card players on the way out.

"How's Rex?" Appo called.

Anakin paused and gave them all a confident smile that he didn't quite feel. "He'll be back to bossing you around in no time, worry not. His concussion was just a bit deeper set in the brain tissue than Kix had originally thought, is all. He just needs more rest for another day or two. Kix is going to keep him under for a bit to make sure he gets it."

"Ah. That's good. Had us worried there when he tried to walk out of here on his own but couldn't figure out which way the exit was."

Anakin grimaced faintly. _Poor Rex. _"He should be able to accomplish that incredibly difficult feat the next time he's up," he joked.

The brothers laughed and Anakin left them relieved and once again able to enjoy their card game.

As he walked back down the hallway towards his quarters, the young Jedi wondered if it was Rex's illness that he'd been having a bad feeling about.

_But if that's the case, why do I still feel an impending sense of doom? _

_I guess I'll find out eventually. In the meantime, I better comm Snips and let her know what's happening with her mate before she starts pestering me in freak out mode because Rex isn't answering her mental calls._

* * *

Three hours later, Anakin was woken from a restless sleep by literally being thrown off of his cot, immediately followed by the clanging of headache inducing alarms.

As he scrambled to find his footing in a wildly spinning room and hold back the wave of nausea that could only come from the wretched feeling of a ship suddenly pulled out of hyperspace, he thought, _Kriff, I hate being right sometimes._


	4. Abandon Ship!

**Abandon Ship!:**

_D254/20 BBY_

Cody and Obi-Wan were slaving over the damage and casualty reports that needed to be submitted to the Powers That Be, ensconced in the peaceful quiet of the office off the bridge, when their world went from monotonously depressing to full on chaotic in an instant.

Both were thrown from their chairs as the ship felt like it slammed into a durasteel wall, and then they were tossed about the room as it began to spin and lurch uncontrollably. Sirens began to wail and red lights set into the wall flashed a constant alarm.

_What the frag?! _Cody thought as his shoulder slammed into the corner of a desk painfully, his pauldron the only thing saving it from a bad break. He grabbed onto the desk to stop himself from being tossed about more. _Obi-Wan! Where's Obi-Wan?! _

Searching the room, he found his non-armoured General determinedly making for the door, clearly using his Force powers to stay upright by the way he was holding his hands out to the sides and the look of concentration on his face. He looked unhurt and in control, except that his carefully groomed copper hair had fallen over his forehead. Cody exhaled in relief.

_Right. If Obi-Wan is making for the bridge, then I bloody well better be as well. _Using the (thankfully) bolted down desk as a pushing off point, Cody started the short but dangerous journey as well, his sheer stubbornness making up for his lack of Force powers. He even managed to snag his helmet and shove it onto his head as it rolled past his feet.

He made it out the door only a few seconds after Obi-Wan did, emerging into chaos as the uniformed and identical bridge crew tumbled about the room or clutched onto whatever they could. Cody immediately moved to help them.

"Report!" Obi-Wan was yelling at the one brother that had managed to cling to his station, which just happened to be one of the navigation officers, while using his powers to grab other officers and move them to places where they could hold on.

"I'm sorry, Sir! But we've somehow managed to fly right into a wormhole, as you can see."

Cody could see.

The view out the transparisteel windows was nauseating and frankly frightening as the Venator class war ship spun madly in the unforgiving grasp of the swirling wormhole that had decided to appear in their path. Despite the roar of the engines struggling to fly them out of the mess, Cody could see large durasteel plated sections of the Reckless shooting past the windows. Their ship was being torn apart around them and their only chance of survival was to get in something smaller and more likely to weather the space storm.

The only good news was that he didn't see any of the other Venators flying around in the maelstrom with them, their V shaped formation hopefully being far enough apart that only their ship had been caught. And… they all had working proximity sensors, now that he thought about it.

"General!" Cody called above the cacophony of sirens and then moved up beside him so he didn't have to yell for everyone to hear. Obi-Wan tilted his head slightly, indicating he was listening, but didn't remove his intense gaze from the unpleasant view outside, where he was obviously looking for more than debris just like Cody had. "I'm sure I just read that our proximity sensors were damaged in the last battle. The other ships in the fleet should be all right."

The Jedi relaxed only fractionally as that worry was lifted from his shoulders. "That's good. But that doesn't help us much." They stared at each other for a second, both of them thinking the same thing, that Anakin had been right about which route they should have taken, and then Obi-Wan voiced it, much to Cody's amusement. "Kriff, I hate when Anakin's bad feelings come true because I have yet to listen to him in the first place and he loves to gloat."

Ever the voice of reason, Cody said rather grimly, "We'll have to survive first before he can do that."

Obi-Wan huffled, stuck somewhere between amused and peeved. "True." He basically Force jumped over to a work station and pushed a few buttons, changing the alarms from 'General Emergency' to 'Abandon Ship'.

"All right, men! Get your shebs to the escape pods!" Cody yelled at his brothers as soon as he figured out what his General was doing.

The bridge crew made up entirely of his brothers obeyed instantly, jogging from the bridge as best as they could in as orderly a fashion as possible under the circumstances, moving from one handhold to the next, as the squealing sirens filled the air, letting the entire ship of thousands know it was time to cut their losses.

Obi-Wan gestured to Cody, who had again parked himself in his place at his General's side. "That means you as well. Move it!"

"Yes, Sir!" he replied briskly, but not actually budging until Obi-Wan did, falling in half a step behind him as they waited for the last of the other bridge officers to get out the door first. Obi-Wan gave up on getting his obstinately loyal friend to move towards safety first and hotfooted it down the thankfully narrower and obstacle free hallway (in comparison to the bridge), while being nearly tossed from one side to the other.

When Obi-Wan came to the intersection of hallways that led to the escape pods that the group of bridge officers and even more clones were running down, he hesitated, and so did Cody. They both had people that they refused to leave behind.

"I need to find Anakin."

"And I need to find Rex."

"Together?"

Cody nodded firmly. "Together."

Each other was also included in the list of people they refused to leave behind, and if they became separated now, they might never know if the other made it off the ship. Neither was willing to take that risk.

"Why don't we start with the medbay?" Obi-Wan suggested, even as he took off at a lope. "I'll tell Anakin to meet us there."

"Excellent idea, Sir."

* * *

_One hour earlier…_

Rex woke up silently and without moving a muscle, his battle honed senses on high alert for danger. All he heard was the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears, his nearly silent breathing, and the steady beep beep of monitoring machines. Between that and what his nose was telling him, he concluded that he was in the antiseptic confines of the medbay.

He slowly cracked open his eyes, finding himself in one of the private rooms with the lighting dimmed to half of normal. As he sat up, flickers of memory, filled with pain, confusion, fear, anger, love, and trust, had him closing them again and holding his head as the wave left him feeling very confused because none of the brief images made any sense. His right hand ended up touching a small bacta bandage past his temple and his already short hair had been completely shaved off. He jerked slightly in surprise. _What the kriff happened to me?_

At his movement, the overhead lights brightened and a med droid powered on and floated over, photo receptors as concerned looking as they could get. "How are you feeling, Captain? Are you experiencing any pain, nausea, or disorientation?"

Rex took a few moments as he assessed all of his various parts, then shook his head slowly. "No. Everything seems in working order." His stomach gave a rumble as if to disagree and he snorted ruefully. "A bit hungry, maybe."

The droid practically beamed at him, yellow photo receptors flashing. "That is good news! We have been keeping you alive with fluids for three days now. And even that wasn't working particularly well."

The clone frowned as he looked down at his concave stomach that his bodysuit didn't do a very good job of disguising. _No kidding. _His stomach rumbled again. _Shab, I'm hungry. _"Why didn't the fluids work?" he asked curiously. "I've been on them before for longer and never looked like this."

"It seems that your body was at war with itself and was trying to reject everything it considered a foreign substance. You sweated out fluids faster than we could pump them into you even though you didn't have a fever."

_That would explain why my bodysuit feels rather tacky. _(The spaceworthy material was designed to deal with a certain amount of perspiration, but even that only went so far.) Rex felt only a floating sense of detached amusement, which switched to remembered terror as more flickers of memories or possibly nightmares flashed behind his eyes. He pushed it all back, keeping his tone as emotionless as possible in the hopes of getting out of the medbay sooner than later. "Strange. But can you please tell me what happened to me?" He touched the bandage on his head for a moment before returning his grasp to the blanket pooled in his lap, clinging to the thin material a little more than absolutely necessary.

The door to the room slid open and Kix strode in, touching a small communicator in his ear to turn it off. "I can answer that for you, Rex. Aytee, enact P.C. Protocol 31 regarding Captain Rex."

The droid's photo receptors flickered and almost went out, and then it said, "It is done. All medical procedures performed on Captain Rex have been removed from my memory banks."

Rex almost flinched as more flickers of memory assaulted him, but still not enough to piece anything together. He was sure that Anakin had been involved, though, his concerned face flashing into his mind more than once.

"Very good, Aytee. You can go back to the main room and run more diagnostics on the remaining patients. I'm sure a few of them are ready to have their bandages changed."

"Of course, Sir." And with that, the droid left without looking even once at Rex, like he'd already forgotten he was in the room.

_Perhaps he had. _Narrowing his eyes at Kix, Rex asked in his best 'answer or else' tone, "What's P.C. Protocol 31?"

Kix shot him an amused look, never one to be intimidated by his superiors, since he could technically outrank them when the situation called for it. "Patient Confidentiality Protocol 31 is something I just added to all of the med droids under my command."

Not stupid by any stretch of the imagination, Rex raised a brow. "And I take it that I'm the one that inspired you to do such a borderlinely traitorous thing?"

Kix nodded as he ran a scanner over Rex's head. "You were. Do you remember anything from the last four days?"

"Not really. Just flashes. Nothing makes any particular kind of sense. The last thing I remember for sure is landing on Saleucami."

Kix looked both satisfied by the results from the scan and concerned by the memory loss. (It was an interesting look to pull off at the same time.) "Hopefully you'll recover more of your memory with time, but the short version is that you saw Appo go down under a swarm of clankers, so you did the hero thing and ran into the thick of them to help him just as someone else fired off an EMP into the mix. Hit you right in the helmet. You went down like a sack of rocks and your bucket – which saved your life - was a write off. At first, we thought you just had a particularly bad concussion, but somehow, the electromagnetic charge also damaged your control chip, causing the mostly organic matter to degrade at an alarming rate. You were literally losing your mind as your body fought to regain control in very concerning ways. General Skywalker commanded me to remove your chip to save your life, so I did."

Rex blinked at his brother, jaw hanging a little slacker than one would like, until he processed all of that. "Well, frag."

Kix gave him a sympathetic smile as he carefully pulled off the bacta bandage and found the surgical wound all healed over exactly as he'd hoped it would be, despite being only two hours old. _Stars, I love bacta. My job would be a million times harder without it._ "Precisely. Only you, me, Skywalker, and, I'm assuming Tano, will ever know that we took your chip out. I trust you can continue to act as if you're not a psychotic or violently inclined clone?"

Rex snorted. "I should bloody well hope so."

Kix gave him a warm grin. "That's what both the General and I thought. You have only a very minimal scar, and your hair should cover it up when it grows back. Let's see how your motor skills are doing."

"That's reassuring. But what about in the meantime?" Rex said as he experimentally swung his legs over the edge of the bed and made to stand, experiencing only the faintest swirl of dizziness from the act. He nodded to his concerned looking brother and started walking around the small room, circling the bed.

"That's looking good. In the meantime, I was thinking we could just spray the top of your head with blond coloured paint. You keep your hair so short, no one would ever notice the difference unless they touched you."

Rex laughed, performing a perfect about face and circling the bed the other way. Everything seemed to be working exactly as it should, except for a feeling of annoying weakness, which he attributed to his rapid weight loss. "Let's do it. I need to go find a mountain of grub, my kit, a new bucket, and tell Ahsoka I'm still alive, but maybe not in that order."

Kix grinned at him happily and dug a ration bar out of his utility belt. "Here, start by nibbling on this and take it easy with the food to start with so you don't make yourself sick. Your kit's clean and in the storage locker at the foot of your bunk. And Jesse already went digging through the available helmets and smashed together a couple of them so you have the same half-assed, welded, Phase One Point Five bucket you had before. Sketch even painted it for you so it looks exactly like the old one, except for the lack of wear and tear. And as far as your girl is concerned, well, that one's all yours."

Rex very nearly teared up and had to work to swallow his large 'nibble' of ration bar through a suddenly tight throat, he was filled with such love for his brothers. "Kriff, vod. You all are too good to me."

The medic clapped his much too scrawny brother on the back affectionately. "You know we all worship you, right? You're our leader. We'd be devastated if we lost you."

Rex sat back down on the bed before he fell down, more from overwhelming emotion than anything. "I don't know what to say."

Kix squeezed his shoulder. "You don't have to say anything. Just keep being the big brother we all love. That's all we need."

"Thanks, Kix."

"Don't worry about it. You just rest there for a minute while I go steal some paint from Sketch." Kix paused just before he left the room, looking back over his shoulder, a hint of remembered worry in his eyes. "It's good to have you back, vod." And then he was gone.

Rex stared at the door with furrowed brows, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders as he forced his starving body to slow down on the consummation of his ration bar, feeling suddenly chilled to the bone. _I didn't know I was gone._

Needing to feel warm again almost more than he needed oxygen, Rex shoved all of his concerns over his weakened condition to the very back of his mind and thought as loudly as he could, still amazed that he could talk like this to his girl from half a galaxy away. _"Ahsoka? Are you there?"_

Her reply was almost immediate, as if she'd been waiting for him to contact her. _"I'm here, Rex. How are you feeling? Anakin told me that Kix took your chip out because it was killing you."_

His sense of relief at the sound of her sweet voice in his mind was nearly overwhelming. And the expected warmth at the touch of her mind and the love she filled him with was exactly what he needed right now. _"I've been better, but I know I've also been worse, so overall, not too bad. Aside from a few days worth of memory loss, just a little weak mostly."_

_"That's all right, I guess. I'm glad to hear you sounding like yourself. We had a long and very interesting conversation yesterday when you first woke up from the concussion that was quite entertaining, but certainly not the normal."_

_"Like what? I'm afraid I don't remember."_

_"Well, for example, you turned into a bit of a gossip and told me the quirks and bad habits of every single brother you'd ever met."_

_"I didn't!"_

_"You did. You had me laughing so hard, Padmè was sure I was going to choke on the dinner I was attempting to eat at the same time. But it was things like the knowledge that Cody hugs his pillow like a teddy bear instead of sleeping on it, or the fact that Fives used to have the biggest crush on Master Ti makes me just want to give all of your brothers a hug and find them all their own girls to love."_

_"You know they would worship you forever if you ever did that. You have the biggest heart, my sweet Soka." _

_"Yours is pretty big too, babe, considering it loves so many brothers."_

_"But you most of all."_

_"I should hope so. I'd be in big trouble if I had to compete with so many handsome men for your affections," _she teased.

Rex sent her the equivalent of a mental snort. _"Now you're just putting your fantasies on me again,"_ he teased back. _"You know we don't swing that way." _

_"Hmmmmmm," _she purred. _"But if you did, I could totally get off on seeing you as the meat in something like a Kix and Cody sandwich."_

_"Gah! Please don't put that image in my head ever again," _he begged, giving a whole body shudder at the very graphic picture she'd sent him that including dicks in places they were never meant to go, as far as he was concerned.

_"But you all look so hot together in my head," _Ahsoka said in a pouting tone, pushing her teasing game as far as she could get away with.

Rex decided to turn it back on her before he gagged on his flavourless ration bar. _"Considering that we're all essentially identical, I think what you really want is more of me."_

_"Awwww, you've figured it out," _she laughed. _"I admit that I might have a fantasy or two that includes being the center of a sandwich made with hot-as-hell Rex bread."_

Rex suddenly felt decidedly more than warm, and tossed off the blanket. He concentrated on his ration bar like chewing each bite exactly one hundred times was essential to his survival out of sheer self preservation before he ended up with an embarrassing boner that would be impossible to hide in his bodysuit leggings. _"Kriff, Soka. You're going to kill me with fantasies like that. Now it's in my head too!" _

_"Welcome to the sexually frustrated club."_

_"Ha! I was there long before you were, baby doll."_

_"I'm pretty sure that's debatable."_

_"I've been horny since I was six years old. I'm nearing thirteen now. You can't tell me you can beat that?"_

_"Nope. You win."_

_"Ha!" _ Rex grinned to himself. He liked winning, no matter how simple the thing was. _"At least we can still talk each other into states of mindless bliss whenever an opportune moment presents itself, or I might have gone mad by now."_

_"I totally agree. You know just hearing your voice get all husky is enough to make me wet."_

Rex groaned as his manhood stirred in interest. _"Kriff. Don't start, please! Kix will be back any minute!"_

_"All right," _she giggled. _"Let's think mood killing thoughts again, shall we? How about we talk about Ventress, does that work for you?"_

Rex looked down at his lap, where his manhood had practically tried to crawl into his body in fear and revulsion, and snorted. _"You know it does. Thanks ever so much."_

_"You're welcome," _she said cheekily, and he felt the ghost of an imaginary kiss on his cheek.

Rex gasped and touched his cheek in wonder. _"That's new! Did you know you could do that?"_

_"Not really, but I hoped. Padmè recently told me that Anakin can make her feel his touch from anywhere in the galaxy and that she never has any problems with being left sexually frustrated, if you know what I mean."_

His eyes widened almost to the point of bugging out. _"Holy shit! That's amazing!"_

_"Yep. And now you get to benefit too, now that I've figured out how to make you feel me."_

_"Oh stars," _he moaned, as he felt the whisper of her fingers trailing over his scalp, his eyes closing in bliss.

They popped open again as the door opened and Kix came in wearing a mischievous smirk and carrying a paint sprayer. "Kay, vod, time to make you blond again! Then you can sneak out of here, since the rest of my patients are asleep after playing sabacc for five hours straight."

_"We'll have to continue this later, sweetheart," _Rex thought, smiling back at his brother. _"Kix is going to paint my head!"_

_"Now hold on just one minute, buster! You can't just leave me like that! Explain!"_

Rex laughed, knowing she'd react exactly like that. He explained.

* * *

With a freshly coloured scalp covered in waterproof armour paint that was close enough to his usual shade of blond, and a somewhat appeased stomach after eating a second ration bar, Rex had made for Torrent Company's barracks to shower, shave, and change into a fresh bodysuit and put his armour back on before heading to the mess hall, since he felt only half dressed without it. As a Captain, he was entitled to his own private room, but he preferred to sleep with his brothers, like he had for his entire life.

Sleeping by himself was just so… lonely.

And he had more nightmares when he did.

_But then again, if Ahsoka is going to make me moan, maybe I should move into a private room? Maybe I'll talk to Anakin about it._

His personal grooming routine had been completed in seven minutes flat, and he was now in line for lunch amidst a sea of his brothers. The small number of people on their ship of thousands who weren't clones were so few and far between that it was almost shocking to see one. The other ships in the 7th Sky Corps / 501st Legion fleet were all captained by non clone military officers, though, like Admiral Yularen.

When it was his turn at the buffet, Rex went for light foods, as recommended, picking up a large bowl of numa soup and another one of nerf stew, which he could take his time eating so as not to shock his poor stomach too much. Grabbing a handful of crackers, a spoon, and a cup of caf, he made for a table filled with men in white and blue armour, spotting Jesse's unique Republic symbol tattoo that covered at least half of his head.

After setting his tray down on the table, he sat down at the end of the bench beside Jesse to happy exclamations of, 'Rex!' and 'Good to see you back on your feet, Captain!' Rex pulled his helmet off, setting it beside him on the bench just like everyone else had, and grinned back at his brothers. "I'm glad to be back on them, trust me. I swear my bed sores have bed sores. I might even sleep standing up later."

The boys laughed, because they'd all done it at some point or another, their masking buckets giving them the ability to pretend to be awake while actually taking a nap against a wall or tree or gunship. Jesse nudged him with an elbow, brown eyes twinkling with a teasing light as he said, "Ah, but I'd be willing to bet my entire supply of chocolate that you'd sleep horizontal faster than a Corellian minute if Commander Tano was also on the bed."

Rex flushed slightly as he concentrated on opening his crushed cracker packages into his soup. "You'd win that bet."

"Hey! You have chocolate?!" a younger clone from the other end of the table called out indignantly. "Where the frag did you get that?"

Jesse grinned down the line. "Us ARC troopers have our ways, Lister, and we don't give away our secrets."

Lister's expression turned speculative and he turned his focus back to Rex. "Hey, Captain. What's it take to get promoted to an ARCie?"

Rex paused in his methodical consumption of soup and he studied the eager face of the young clone who was barely experienced enough to no longer be called a shiny. "Well," he drawled out. "First you have to survive a one-on-one with a massive, ferocious beastie native to whatever starsforsaken hellhole of a planet you're on. Then, you have to single handedly take out a squad of B-1clankers, steal a Seppie tank and use it to infiltrate the enemy lines, and then blow up their command center using whatever was available, since you have nothing left on you but a pair of blasters with only a few shots left in them. And if you survive all of that, you then have to make it back to your unit without being discovered by the clankers swarming the area, looking for you."

Rex hid his smirk in another spoonful as soup as Lister's and a handful of newer brothers' jaws had fallen as they gawked at him.

Lister turned his wide eyes to Jesse. "Is that true?"

Jesse shrugged. "I wouldn't know. Rex promoted me after the battle on Umbara. All I did was survive the carnage of that wretched planet where we lost more than two thirds of the 501st, and fly an enemy starfighter into the midst of a space battle and help Hardcase blow up the Seppie supply ship, stars rest his brave soul."

"Holy poodoo," Lister breathed in awe, respect for his older brother dawning in his eyes. He looked at Rex again. "So who did what you mentioned?"

Rex's mouth quirked up on one side ever so slightly. He slurped up another spoonful of soup before calmly saying, "Me. During the week long battle to capture Geonosis the first time. I was made ARC trooper and then Captain by the time we moved on to Christophsis."

"Whoa."

Rex shrugged and tilted his bowl to scrape up the last of his soup. "Just doing what I was bred to."

Jesse snorted. "Don't let his Royal Humbleness fool you. I heard General Skywalker say to General Kenobi that Rex is the best clone fighter in the whole army, and that he's tried to have him promoted to Commander more than a dozen times over the years, but the paperwork keeps getting lost in transit somewhere, so it never goes through."

Now Rex was gawking, his first spoonful of stew forgotten halfway to his mouth. "What?! I never heard that!"

Jesse gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, I didn't know. Maybe Skywalker never told you because he didn't want you to be disappointed?"

"Disappointed? No, I'm not disappointed. I'm bloody well relieved. I thought I wasn't good enough. Wasn't smart enough to move up another rank." Rex stared at his stew blankly. "Frag, I wish he'd just told me. It's been bugging me for a long time, but especially since Ahs… ah, Commander Tano left, and the 501st didn't have a legitimate Commander anymore even though I've always done the job of the Commander when she wasn't with us."

"Hey. At least now you know." Jesse's expression morphed into speculative. "Speaking of the little Commander, how's the romance going with you being so far apart and all?"

_Actually, pretty fragging fantastic, what with the mind sex and her new trick, but I don't know if they'd understand why. Maybe I should just tell them? It's not like Jedi tricks aren't familiar to them anyway. _

Rex shoveled in his forgotten spoonful of stew to stall for time, feeling the identical eyes of every brother at the table looking at him with laser-like interest. (The whole of the 501st had adopted Rex's relationship as their favourite thing to gossip about and live vicariously through.) He swallowed the well masticated chunk of nerf and opened his mouth to tell them about Force bonds, when the ship jolted violently, ripped from hyperspace.

At least, that's what he thought it was, having felt something similar once before, but in the Twilight when the hyperdrive conked out and sent them spinning out of control right into a conveniently located winter planet called Hoth that he never wanted to visit again. (Just another one of Anakin's nearly infamous crashes. No biggie.)

Food and trays went flying. Brothers yelled as they were thrown against each other and to the floor or across tables. Rex had the wind knocked out of him as his torso crashed into the table. And just when he thought he was sitting back up, the ship started to spin and buck like a crazed nerf and the alarms started blaring.

The only good thing about it all was that the tables and benches were bolted down, or the number of injuries would have been countless. As is, Rex and his hundreds of dining brothers had all they could do not to injure each other as they scrambled to find purchase in the chaos of spilt food and rolling helmets.

Rex held onto the next table over from where he'd started from with a death grip, ignoring the slight tremor in his still weak limbs as he assessed the situation and quickly came to the conclusion that they needed to get out of the mess hall. "EVERYONE TO THE HALLWAY, NOW!" he bellowed loud enough to be heard across the entire, acre sized room. "GRAB A BUCKET ON THE WAY AND PUT IT ON!" Just in case they needed to abandon ship, leaving their helmets behind could mean the difference between living and dying.

Like the well trained soldiers they were, they followed his commands instantly, moving as a relatively orderly unit towards the doors, scooping up the wayward helmets from the floor as they went. It didn't matter who got which helmet at this point, they could sort out whose was whose later.

Rex made his way to the door, hanging onto tables as he went, scooping up a helmet that hit his boot and shoving it onto his head. At the door, he grabbed the frame and waited for everyone else to get out first, making sure that no one was being left behind, injured on the floor, and that there were no more rolling helmets to grab.

Satisfied, he moved into the hallway, where his food covered brothers had lined themselves up in orderly rows, using each other and the walls to maintain their positions, and waiting for further orders. He was ridiculously proud of them.

He was just about to order them to their battle stations, assuming the ship was under attack, when a brother in shiny new armour that he didn't recognize sidled his way down the edge of the line, brothers letting him through. He was holding Rex's brand new, signature jaig eyed and mishmashed helmet. "I can't keep this, Sir," he said bashfully, holding it out. "Everyone will think I'm you and start asking me what to do."

All the brothers within hearing distance chuckled and Rex pulled off the generic bucket he had on, accepting his helmet from the shiny and handing over the other one. Rex grinned at him. "Well, that would be one way to get some command experience."

The young shiny looked at the helmet in Rex's hands thoughtfully, his shoulders squaring and determination radiating from him. "Maybe in another year, I'll be just as important as you, Captain Rex."

Rex gave the shiny who was suddenly reminding him of a young Cody an assessing look. "Maybe you will."

At that moment, the alarms changed from 'Emergency' to 'Abandon Ship', and every man tensed. Rex didn't need to say it, but he bellowed it anyway before plunking his helmet onto his head. "TO THE ESCAPE PODS, DOUBLE TIME!"


	5. Where's Rex? (part 1)

**Where's Rex? (part 1):**

Anakin had just managed to finish getting dressed – putting on his boots while all of the spare parts in his room that he'd been tinkering with tried to kill him and the 'Abandon Ship' siren was swearing at him to hurry the kark up was a new experience he never needed to repeat again – when he heard his Master's voice in his mind.

_"Anakin! Where are you? We're abandoning ship!"_

So rare was it that Obi-Wan actually used their bond to communicate like that anymore, Anakin actually startled like a stupid shaak at the unexpected intrusion in his mind as he was exiting the door that Artoo had opened half a minute ago. Recovering his balance, the younger Jedi started running in the direction he could feel Obi-Wan was in, towards the bridge. Unfortunately, that was the opposite direction the hordes of evacuating soldiers were going, dashing down the hallway in fits and starts as they jolted into each other and the walls.

_"Making my way towards you," _Anakin replied back as he stuck as close to the wall as he could and helped a clone remain upright every few steps with a gentle Force push. "_And yeah, I got the memo in blaring red. I'm not entirely sure my eyes and ears will recover."_

_"There's no need to be sarcastic, Anakin. We're heading to the medbay. That is where Rex is, is it not?"_

Anakin made a quick change of direction, aiming for a turbolift instead of down another boring grey hallway, passing even more clones as they poured out of the common rooms and training gyms in droves. _"Last time I saw him, yes." _

_"You'll meet us there?"_

_"Two minutes, max, as long the lifts still work."_

_"Kriff, don't jinx them! Cody and I are just getting in one!" _

Anakin gave a mental snort at Obi-Wan's joke that wasn't quite entirely said in jest as he slid into his own lift just before the doors closed on a space already filled to capacity with soldiers. He squashed in as they shuffled to make room. "Thanks," he said quickly. He went to hit the button for the medbay's level but found it already lit. Barely bothering to think a mental shrug, he then continued his conversation with Obi-Wan. _"Hey. Just because I have terrible luck at crashing ships, doesn't mean the same applies to lifts."_

_"Yes, well, this ship is being torn apart as we speak; the systems are going to start shutting down soon."_

_"Lovely. What happened to us, anyway?_ _ It feels like we're spinning in circles while being shaken by a very mad Zillo beast."_

Obi-Wan laughed once. _"What a description. I might even use that one in the report. But we're actually in a wormhole. We flew right into it. The proximity sensors were damaged in the last battle."_

_"I knew it!" _Anakin crowed as his warning from the Force finally made sense. He was excited enough that the clones in the lift with him gave him funny looks, which he ignored. _"I knew this way was a bad idea!"_

_"I told Cody you'd gloat. You didn't have to prove me right."_

_"Sorry, Master." _

_"You're sarcasm is going to get you killed one day."_

_"Look who's talking, Mr. Let's-Taunt-The-Enemy-Till-They-Beat-The-Poodoo-Out-Of-Me."_

Obi-Wan snorted in his mind much the same as he'd done half a minute before. _"I'm still not sure how I always end up in the 'distraction' role while you get the 'hero' one."_

_"Sorry, Master." _This time, Anakin was almost entirely sincere.

He received another mental snort for his trouble.

The lift came to a stop, the doors opened, and Anakin turned to his soldiers. "Quick mission for you all. We're going to the medbay and you can help Kix load up the wounded."

The men in white and blue armour, all decorated with an arrow on them somewhere, snapped to attention with a chorus of, 'Yes, Sir!'

Nodding once with an approving smile, he moved to run and then whipped back, mind finally registering what he'd seen. "You were going there anyway, weren't you? For Sergeant Appo?"

The clones nodded again as a unit with another chorus of 'Yes, Sir'. And one at the front that he recognized as Appo's second added, "Can't leave without our Sarge, can we?"

Anakin grinned fleetingly at Sock's rhetorical question and took off down the new hallway that looked just like the one he'd left a minute ago, a couple dozen clones from Arrow Company hot on his heels in two squiggly lines as they lurched down the bucking hallway.

Anakin and co turned the last corner before reaching their destination. He gave a relieved flicker of a smile when he saw Obi-Wan and Cody running up to the medbay door from the other side.

"Perfect timing!" Obi-Wan called over the sirens as Anakin skidded up to him, grabbing a bulkhead to stop his momentum as the ship pitched him forward. "And you brought friends."

"They're here to help Kix!" Anakin explained in a near yell; they seemed to be beside a particularly enthusiastic speaker blaring out a wehahhhh wehahhhhh wehahhhhh that hurt his head.

Obi-Wan nodded his approval as he palmed open the door to semi controlled chaos. Fortunately, the hovering medbeds and their patients weren't affected by the spinning and tilting ship, but everything else in the room not bolted down had been. Which meant there was miscellaneous medical supplies rolling and flying around everywhere.

Kix and half a dozen med droids were dodging as best as they could while trying to prepare the injured clones for transport, attaching whatever they needed to survive to their beds and thrusting items into the clones' helpful hands if they were awake and able.

"Kix!" Anakin yelled, to get the medical clone's attention as they all filed in the door. "I brought you help!"

"Thank kriff!" Kix replied, eyeing the Arrows as they all converged on Appo's bed.

With Obi-Wan and Cody right behind him, Anakin closed the distance between himself and Kix carefully. He glanced at the door of the private room where he'd last seen his Captain but didn't sense any life signatures in there and didn't see him on any of the beds in the main space either. "Where's Rex?"

Kix shook his head as he grabbed up vials off the floor and stuffed them into a rucksack. "I don't know. I released him about half an hour ago. He's probably in the mess hall, though, or was. He was hungry."

Anakin had to fight to stay calm, not liking that Rex was missing. But… "He's all right, though? Head all better?"

Kix nodded, moving with some difficulty to a cupboard and opening the door, scooping more meds into his rucksack. "He was acting one hundred percent normal and his scans came back clean."

The young Jedi exhaled in relief at that, glad he wouldn't have to go mind diving into Rex's head to control his behaviour. Anakin could feel Obi-Wan's and Cody's relief as well at the good news. They didn't know about the chip removal operation, but everyone had been worried by how long it had taken Rex to recover from the concussion. "That's great. Now I just have to find him."

Kix shot him a disbelieving look as he moved to start pushing a clone filled bed towards the escape pods attached directly to one wall of the medbay for just such an emergency situation. (They used to be located a couple hallways over, but the war had taught them that their ships were going to get destroyed on a regular basis and that the wounded in the medbay most likely wouldn't make it off the ship in time if their escape pods weren't more accessible. "Rex can take care of himself, Sir! You need to get your shebs in an escape pod, stat!"

"But…" Anakin protested.

"No buts!" Kix yelled. "You're the Generals. You have a responsibility to your men, the GAR, the Republic, and your Order to survive! Now grab a medbed and move!"

Anakin and Obi-Wan exchanged rueful looks, because Kix was right. That didn't mean that they wanted to leave, though.

An explosion from what felt like not that far away, that rocked the ship even worse and resulted in the loss of the lights, the awful sirens, and the air circulating systems that no one ever noticed until they were no longer softly humming away in the background, made the decision for them.

Everything went deadly silent in the room as everyone momentarily froze, except for the sound of more explosions and crashing metal in the background.

Anakin sighed in defeat. "I guess we're evacuating now, Obi-Wan." His words rang in the dark and prompted everyone to move again. Helmet lights were turned on and beds were pushed in a flurry of movement, casting crazy shadows all over the place.

"Yes, we are," Obi-Wan replied firmly. "Unless you like the idea of dying by asphyxiation in the next few minutes." Anakin and Kix made nearly identical sounds of disgust at the ever sarcastic Jedi Master. Obi-Wan just grinned briefly before he returned to the seriousness of their situation and squeezed Anakin's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "Don't worry about Rex. I'm sure he's already on an escape pod and off the ship; there are many near the mess hall and barracks."

"Yeah." Anakin may have agreed on principle, but he didn't like the not knowing for sure.

And Cody could see it as Rex's Jedi General shrunk in on himself as he moved to push a medbed. So he made a stupid offer that he would never regret, because Rex was his favourite brother and one of the very few he'd allowed himself to get attached to, and he needed to know if he was okay too.

Jogging up beside Anakin as he pushed a clone who must be seriously injured to still be unconscious with all of the racket, he quietly said, "I'll go up to the mess hall and barracks level and make sure Rex and everyone else up there got off the ship."

Anakin paused, his expression torn between gratitude and resignation. "Cody. No. You're just as important as we are. Maybe more so. You need to get in the pod with us."

Cody started backing up towards the door, shaking his helmeted head. "I'm sorry, Sir. But I can't do that. Rex is my brother. They're all my brothers."

And with that, Cody turned and ran, yells of, "Cody!" from both of the Generals ringing in the sound system of his bucket. Guilt already weighing him down at disobeying orders, he paused at the doorway and turned back around, calling out, "I'm sorry, my friends. May your Force be with you if I don't see you again."

And with that, he was gone, leaving behind a devastated and trying not to show it Obi-Wan Kenobi.

As Anakin watched Cody leave, he couldn't help but feel a wave of relief, no matter how technically wrong it was. He turned his gaze to his former Master and best friend, who was staring at the closing medbay door with the most worry Anakin had ever seen him show. He sent him a little of his own relief at the turn of events down their bond. _"It's going to be okay, Master. I have a good feeling about this. Rex and Cody will look after each other."_

_"I hope you're right."_

_"Of course I am." _

But just in case, after Anakin loaded up his unconscious patient, he sat down on a chair in the pod and started typing like the wind on the mini computer that he kept in a pouch on his belt that had a direct link to Artoo, who should be just about at his starfighter by now. (He'd sent his robotic friend to fly his favourite new ship off of the Reckless as soon as the 'Abandon Ship' siren had started.)

**Cody and possibly Rex on the mess hall level near the baracks. Can you make sure they get off the ship?**

His faithful astromech responded back instantly.

**Will do. Are you safe?**

Anakin's mouth flickered into a smile at the droid's words of concern as Obi-Wan settled into the chair beside him.

**Yes. I'm on a pod and we just left the Reckless. **

**Good. Scanning for Cody and Rex's helmet frequencies now.**

**Thank you. Stay safe, little buddy.**

**I will try not to get blown up again, Master.**

Anakin chuckled, earning a raised eyebrow from Obi-Wan, who then leaned over to read the computer screen too. His silent amusement flowed down their bond a moment later while Anakin continued to type.

**Please don't. Five times was more than enough.**

**Agreed. Found Rex. And Cody. Moving towards Rex's position now.**

**Good job, buddy. Take care of them. See you soon.**

**Thank you. Will do my best. And that is debatable. **

**As long as you're alive to debate it, I'm fine with that.**

**With the circumstances being what they are, all I can promise is that I will endeavour to continue functioning as long as possible, Mas**

Anakin frowned at the screen on his computer as it went blank before Artoo could finish his last sentence. "Poodoo. Must have lost the signal."

Obi-Wan patted his knee comfortingly even as his changeable eyes turned dark grey with worry as he looked outside. "At least you had it as long as you did. We're quite a distance from the Reckless already."

Anakin looked out the window, and saw that Obi-Wan was right.

But what he saw didn't bode well for anyone still on the war ship. Much of the rear section was on fire, and it was literally shrinking as he watched, more and more of the sides and bottom pulling off in pieces as the insane suction of the swirling wormhole destroyed the ship bit by bit. There were very few places left that had contained escape pods, and there was no way to tell if they were still there or not from this distance.

And it was getting further away by the second as it was pulled deeper and deeper into the space anomaly.

The only good news was that he did see a lot of pods flying away from the Reckless, so many of the men had managed to escape already. But Rex, Cody, and Artoo were still on the ship and he didn't like it. A feeling of doom settled like lead in his gut, his only consolation the fact that the main hangar was in the center of the ship and would be protected the longest, as well as having a separate power source for just such emergencies, so they still had a chance.

Their pod, containing four stacked medbeds like bunkbeds, a med droid, and nine squashed in people, jolted badly as it was struck by debris, pulling Anakin back to the seriousness of his own situation. He glanced over at the Arrow trooper who was flying them and rose to his feet. "I think maybe I should take over the flying."

Obi-Wan wasn't so sure, considering Anakin's luck with crashing, but he was the best pilot in the galaxy when it came to actually flying, so he went for a neutral, "All right," and started doing some mental begging with the Force to help them get out of here alive.

Which reminded him that he had someone else elsewhere in the galaxy that would be very upset if he didn't make it. So, concentrating on the recently formed bond that grew a little stronger every day, he thought, _"Depa, I know I haven't said it yet, but this might be a good time to tell you that I love you."_

_"Obi-Wan Kenobi! What mess have you gotten yourself into this time?!"_

* * *

_Five minutes prior…_

Rex fell into the back of the line of clones as they all jogged for the escape pods located not that far from the mess hall, wondering what in the galaxy their fleet had flown themselves into this time. The Seppies were constantly coming up with new weapons to mess with them and this ship shaking thing was definitely the worst one yet, in his opinion.

Because of his musings, it took him a moment to notice that another clone had fallen back to jog beside him. The first thing he noticed was the Republic symbol on the helmet, which prompted him to double check that the rest of the armour markings actually matched the helmet. The white and grey stripped kama and appropriately located blue stripes on his armour matched. "I see you managed to get your own bucket back as well, Jesse."

"I admit I chased it down. I'm rather partial to it."

Rex's lips twitched upwards. "I understand. Thank you for making me a new version of mine. I'm rather partial to it as well."

"Awww. It was nothing. Just couldn't imagine you wearing anything else and I had a bit of time on my hands."

"Well, thanks. I appreciate it."

Ahead of them, a long line of clones were filing into escape pods, filling each one to capacity before closing the door and taking off. Rex and Jesse were about thirty seconds away from reaching the hallway filled with hatches to relative safety when there was a horrendous screech of metal tearing, Rex was thrown against a wall yet again, and the entire section of the ship was suddenly torn away in front of them.

Dozens of his brothers were sucked out into space in an instant and Rex only saved himself by the tips of his finger tips as he flew past a bulkhead. _Frag, frag, frag! _He panted with sudden adrenaline and grief, clinging with every last ounce of strength he had against the powerful suction of space.

Looking around him as best as he could, he didn't see anyone else near him. "Jesse!" he called into his helmet comm, not even questioning if the helmet had been programmed with all of the appropriate frequencies, knowing that the tech savvy ARC trooper would have taken care of that. "Kriff, Jesse, please tell me you're okay!" _Stars, why do I let myself get so attached to them?! I know I'm only going to lose them._

"I'm good, vod." Jesse's voice said a moment later. "Caught an open hatch to a pod and pulled myself in. From what I saw, a lot of our brothers did the same. We're going to try and catch a few of the strays before they run out of air. Where are you?"

"Still in the Reckless. Barely. But I think I can…" Taking a gamble. Rex let go of the bulkhead with one hand, pulled a blaster, and aimed for the control panel of the doorway to the now absent escape pod hallway. He shot it. The doors slid closed. And Rex dropped to the floor. "Yeah. I'm good. Shot the door closed."

"Thank kriff. All right, vod, you go find yourself another way off that ship, you hear me? It's falling apart and getting sucked in."

"I hear you," Rex stifled a groan as his shaking limbs reluctantly agreed to hold him as he regained his feet. "I'm going."

"Good. Take care of yourself, vod."

"You too."

Rex closed the channel and moved back the way he'd come, picking up an ever growing herd of stray brothers on the way as they dashed for the now nonexistent escape pods. His mind whirled as he pulled up a mental diagram of the Reckless and where the next nearest section of escape pods were located. _Kark. Too far. But what choice do we have? _

So Rex led the way towards the nearest lift.

The lights and sirens turned off abruptly. And his H.U.D. computer told him that the oxygen levels in the corridors were dropping, which meant he had a limited amount of time.

And if that wasn't bad enough, just before they reached the turbolift, the gravity turned off, slowing them down even more. _That's just fragging great. _

Rex floated for a moment, the lights from their helmets illuminating the otherwise deserted hallway in a spooky fashion that sent a chill down his spine. He thought about magnetizing his boots, but running like that was nearly impossible, so he stayed with the floating, and started pulling himself along the walls and pushing off of bulkheads towards the doorway to the stairs, a little further down the hall, not trusting a lift to get him anywhere.

He'd just touched the button to open the stairway door when he heard the lift door open just to his left. _Hunh. Emergency power still has that working. Maybe we should take it? _Rex looked to the side and gawked as Cody surged out of the lift, floating in the zero g's like them and looking the wrong way down the hallway before he turned his head their way.

"Cody!" Rex called, pushing away from the doorway and air swimming towards his brother.

"Rex!" Cody was nearly overwhelmed with relief to find his brother so quickly, but worry immediately set right back in as they met in mid air, only just refraining from the urge to hug because that just wasn't what macho soldiers did. "Why aren't you already in a pod and long gone from here?" he demanded.

"Almost was. Then the entire pod hallway was torn right off the ship. I was this close to getting sucked out into space."

"Shab."

"Yeah. Lost more brothers." Rex paused and then more thoughts burst from him. "Why are you still on the ship? Where are the Generals?"

Cody pushed back the grief at the death of even more of his brothers for later and answered Rex's questions as briefly as possible. "I was looking for you. And the Generals are safe. We have to get out of here. Life support is gone and our helmets are only going to keep us going for another minute or two. There's more escape pods in the medbay."

"That's more than two minutes from here if we have to do it floating."

"I know."

"What other choice do we…" Rex's voice trailed off as a flying blue and silver astromech came tearing around a corner. "Artoo!"

Cody swivelled around. "Artoo?" _What the frag is Skywalker's droid doing still on the ship?_

"Come! Come with me!" Artoo beeped. "To the hangar!"

The two command clones looked at each other, basically staring right through each other's visors as they had the same thought of, _Of course! _With a quick nod, they both floated after Artoo as fast as they could, a band of about twenty-five other random clones trailing behind, trusting their commanders to know what they were doing.


	6. Where's Rex? (part 2)

****A********/N: I have probably taken liberties with the layout of a Venator, but just go with it for the sake of the story. If you happen to know for a fact that I've done so, then tell yourself that this is a crazy A.U. and that Venators were designed differently in this universe. :D****

* * *

****Where's Rex? (part 2):****

The clones may have been filled with a nearly overwhelming sense of urgency as their H.U.D.s informed them about the increasingly low levels of oxygen as more and more of it was lost to holes in the hull, but swimming through zero g was slower than running and there was nothing they could do about it. The only plus was that without gravity, at least the ship couldn't toss them about as badly either, so Rex was calling it win. Since the first crash in the mess hall, he'd collided with the walls and bulkheads more than a dozen times already and his bones were starting to ache.

As they passed down a row of barracks, one more clone suddenly emerged from an open door, dressed in orange streaked armour. "What the kark is going on? Who decided to have a party in the dark and throw the ship in a blender for shits and giggles?"

Rex and many of the others chuckled, their sense of humour not perturbed by a little thing like a Venator eating wormhole. Cody grabbed the clone by the arm and pulled him with him to get him going. "We're evacuating, Dozer. How the frag did you sleep through the alarm?"

Dozer shrugged and air swam along. "Got my name for a reason, didn't I?"

Rex and the others chuckled again as Cody groaned loudly. Dozer was famous for being able to sleep through literally anything, but he was a good soldier and one of the best combat pilots in the GAR, flying countless successful missions since the Battle of Christophsis, so Cody tolerated him.

The main hangar of the Venator class star destroyer occupied nearly the entire central level of the ship and was just above the barracks and mess hall level for the ease of swift deployment of troops. There were separate lifts and stairs up to the hangar at the far end of each hallway, which is where Artoo led them.

When they emerged into the vast hangar, actually still lit with overhead lights, and usually filled with orderly rows of starfighters, gunships, shuttles, and AT-TEs, Rex breathed a quick sigh of relief to see the faint shimmer of blue shields still covering the openings to the central runway, which was currently open to space to allow the evacuation of everything flyable. If the shields had failed, then all of the ships would have been sucked out, and that would have meant the end for him and his brothers. _Thank kark the hangar has its own power source. _

Unfortunately, the hangar still relied on the main gravity generator, which had exploded, which meant that all of the vehicles that were left were currently bouncing around like bumper cars at an amusement park.

Not that any of his brothers had ever been to an amusement park except for Rex, but they had heard about it plenty from him. It was one of the dates he and Ahsoka had gone on that they had happily grilled him on to death, eager to learn every single detail; from the rides to the taste of cotton candy. Rex felt a quick flash of warmth fill his chest at the memory of kissing Ahsoka when their carriage on the Ferris wheel stopped at the top and they looked out over all of the colourful flashing lights. That had been one of his favourite moments with her where they felt just like two regular people and the war didn't exist. He'd even worn civilian clothes for the first time in his life, lent to him by Anakin who had his own stash for dates with Padmè. _Stars, I hope I get to kiss my Soka again. _

Cody looked around the hangar that could have been a lot more chaotic than it was, because this section of the divided hangar only had half of the twenty-four walkers, one gunship, and Skywalker's yellow and grey Eta-2 Actis class interceptor; everything else had already been flown away by their designated pilots or astromechs. But it was still a death trap of unpredictability as the heavy duty machines bounced off of each other and the walls wildly.

He winced as an expensive walker bounced itself right through the shields and was instantly sucked up into space. _We were going to lose it anyway, but still… that hurts._

"Dozer!" Cody snapped.

"Yes, Sir?"

"Is that your designated LAATi?"

Dozer looked as shaakish as a man in a helmet could as they all watched said gunship float by. The fluffy cloud with trailing z's painted on the side of the nose left little question as to the person who flew the ship on a regular basis.

"Yes, Sir."

"Then you karking well better go get it, hadn't you?"

Dozer gulped at the disappointed tone in his Commander's voice. "Yes, Sir."

The group of brothers watched as Dozer bravely pushed off the wall they were all plastered against, and floated out into the slowly bouncing chaos. Rex nudged Cody with his shoulder and said on their private comm frequency, "You know, if he hadn't slept through the alarm, we wouldn't have anything to escape the Reckless on, right?"

Cody sighed softly, tracking the progress of his brother as Dozer chased after his gunship. "I know. His ability to sleep so easily just drives me up the wall, though."

"Because you can barely stand to close your eyes because of the nightmares and the guilt at surviving when so many of our brothers haven't?"

Cody nodded once, throat suddenly too tight to speak.

"Yeah, I get it." Rex released a mournful sigh for both of them. "I don't sleep so well either. I haven't since Ahsoka hasn't been around to give me an excuse to nod off when she used me as a pillow. She always had the ability to keep the nightmares at bay."

_Sometimes, I wish I had my own woman to keep the nightmares at bay. _But Cody had never met one that even came close to inspiring him to break his programming. He doubted he ever would. As much as he loved to imagine that he could be as daring as Rex and ignore the rules, the mere thought of shirking his duties to the GAR, his General, and his brothers just to snuggle up to a girl made a chill dance up his spine and a headache throb in his temple. He didn't know how Rex did it. Not that Rex actually abandoned his responsibilities, he just managed to find a little more free time than Cody ever did.

But Rex didn't have even a tenth of the men under his command that Cody did, either.

Some of those men cheered, ending the depressing conversation and Cody's thoughts, as Dozer grabbed a hold of the left wing of his LAATi and pulled himself towards the front, then disappearing from their line of sight as a walker floated in front of them.

Confident that his mission to find Rex and Cody safe passage off the ship had been successful, Artoo gave a beep of farewell and flew off in pursuit of Anakin's interceptor before it got crushed.

Less than a minute later, Cody's helmet picked up the familiar sound of engines starting, and the men cheered again. A few seconds later, the gunship flew towards their group, the side door already sliding open for them to get in.

And that's when the poodoo hit the theoretical fan.

A floating tank crashed at just the right trajectory into the power generator in the corner, causing a disorienting explosion and sending out a heat wave that included deadly shrapnel everywhere.

Artoo was hit just before he could land in his slot in the interceptor, sending him into a squealing spin.

Cody, at the end of the line of clones closest to the explosion, was also hit, a jagged piece of metal nearly four centimetres thick and ten centimetres long imbedding into his side, punching right through his armour. He gasped and flew into Rex at the impact. Rex caught him out of reflex, looking in horror at the durasteel sticking out of his brother. _Frag! Cody!_

The lights and shields flickered and turned off, the vacuum of space suddenly pulling everyone and everything towards the big square bay doors.

With the inherent lightning fast reflexes bred into them, one of the clones managed to grab onto the doorframe he was floating beside and grab onto the leg of his brother, who grabbed the leg of his brother, and so and so forth, until there was an entire of chain of clones gritting their teeth and hanging on to each other for dear life.

Except for Cody and Rex, because they'd been jolted out of reach. Rex literally wrapped his legs around his now limp brother as they were pulled towards their doom, mind moving at lightspeed as he looked for a solution.

The only one not overly adversely affected by the explosion was Dozer in his made-for-just-such-a-situation heavy armoured gunship. He determinedly floored it and adjusted his course to put the gunship between the chain of clones and their imminent death in space, knowing Cody would kill him if he went after two brothers when he could have saved more than twenty. They very gratefully tumbled into the body of the LAATi en masse and he closed the door, which automatically pressurized the cabin.

Then Dozer turned the gunship, frantically looking for his Commander as his brothers cried in his helmet comm to find Cody and Rex. What he saw almost made him smile, because Captain Rex had a reputation of being the best clone soldier in the GAR, and he was proving it once again.

With smooth and practiced movements that were nearly impossible to follow with the eye, Rex removed the grappling extension from his belt to attach to one of his blasters and he shot it at the yellow and grey interceptor just after both he and it flew through the previously shielded square doorways. With the vacuum of space now crushing his muscles into his bones in a familiar fashion that he'd endured many times before, Rex focused on reeling himself and Cody into the starfighter's body at the same time as Artoo came flying out of who knows where, beeping, "I'm coming! I'm coming! Wait for me!"

As if Rex had any choice about how fast they were being pulled away from the Reckless.

Not far behind Artoo, and with a herd of six-legged walkers tumbling around crazily in space in his wake, looking more and more like animals the further he flew away from them, Dozer's gunship flew after him, ready to come to the rescue if Rex didn't manage it on his own.

But Rex and Artoo had it all under control.

The astromech landed in his slot just as Rex's grappling line finished pulling him and Cody into the interceptor's body. He grasped onto the frame between the cockpit and the wing gratefully as Artoo popped the hatch for him. Rex manhandled Cody into the cockpit, thankful for the lack of gravity that made his brother weightless, and then pulled himself in behind. Artoo closed the hatch for him and pressurized the small space intended for only one person, which had Rex falling awkwardly onto Cody, who groaned as he folded even more awkwardly over the seat of the chair.

_Shab! _Rex scrambled off of Cody and knelt in the small space beside the chair. He pulled off his brother's helmet to help him breathe fresher air and to see how much pain he was in. Based on the alabaster pale hue to his usually tawny skin and the sweat beading on his brow, Cody was in a lot.

Wincing in sympathy, Rex found a pain stim in a pouch in his belt and shoved it into Cody's neck and then helped him sit up in the chair properly as Cody panted in shallow gasps. "We'll get you help in a few minutes, vod. Just hang in there while Artoo flies us out of this crazy hole, okay?"

Cody gave him a weak smile. "I'm… not going anywhere, vod. Had worse than this and… survived just fine."

Rex chuckled sadly as he stared at the shrapnel imbedded in his brother that he didn't dare pull out. "I know, Cody. I know. Just… don't like seeing you hurt, is all."

"We have to… stop taking turns… getting injured," Cody joked, the tension easing a little from his frame as the painkiller kicked in.

"Agreed."

"Is everything okay in there?" Dozer asked over Rex's helmet comm, staying close enough to the interceptor for the short-range comms to work as both ships dodged debris and fought against the pull of the wormhole that was still dragging the remains of the Reckless further and further away.

"Okay enough, Dozer," Rex answered. "You just concentrate on flying out of this mess, all right? Artoo is taking care of us."

"Yes, Sir."

Rex pulled his helmet off, gratefully sucking in fresh air, not realizing how stale the oxygen in his bucket had gotten until he did so. The two brothers watched in tense silence through the clear transparisteel hatch as black space and debris whirled by and Dozer flew skillfully through the mess in front of them. Rex gripped the edges of the chair as Artoo pulled some seriously talented moves to keep their little starfighter from being hit that made him wonder if some of Anakin's reputation as the galaxy's best pilot was partially due to his astromech.

Just when Rex was becoming almost confident that they were going to make it out of the wormhole in one piece, Artoo squealed in pain as he was stuck by a tiny fragment of speeding debris that he never saw coming. It went right through his dome, causing damage to his circuits as it bounced around like a ping pong ball, and he went into an automatic shutdown out of preprogrammed self-preservation.

"Artoo? Artoo?! Kark," Rex cursed as the interceptor came to a coasting stop and then was pulled backwards by the sucking wormhole. Both brothers reached for the controls to take over flying, but it was too late.

The little starfighter was struck by a larger piece of debris, sending it spinning crazily and blowing right through one of the ion engines at the back, which sent an electrical surge through the ship, shutting down all systems.

The brothers could only hold on for the ride as their transport tested their stomach control and bounced along with the rest of the debris as the whirling wormhole pulled them away from everything they knew and loved, the g-forces increasing exponentially with every swirl deeper and deeper into the anomaly, throwing Rex against a wall and pressing him there until it felt like his body would explode. Cody, at least, was sitting in a chair designed to cushion against g-forces.

Cody regretted the way he'd so abruptly left Obi-Wan behind without giving his friend a proper chance to say goodbye, and absently wondered who would take his place as the Marshall Commander of the Clone Army.

Rex fought the sting of bitter tears as he realized he'd never see Anakin again, who was as close as a brother to him, or Ahsoka, who he practically lived and breathed for. He knew his loss would hurt Ahsoka terribly but there was nothing he could do about it.

Allowing his eyes to close after exchanging one last look of knowing remorse with his brother, Rex poured all of his focus into thinking one final thought towards his soulmate before he blacked out.

_"I'm so sorry, Soka. I love you."_

* * *

_Coruscant, five minutes prior…_

Ahsoka stood quietly in the background, more or less hidden from the view of Coruscanti traffic by one of the columns on Padmè's main balcony. It was also doubling as a very effective backrest that helped portray the illusion that she was alert to her surroundings, but she really wasn't.

Even though she should be paying attention to whatever bill Organa, Mothma, and Padmè were nattering on about now, she'd retreated to this corner when Rex had contacted her earlier and she hadn't really felt like listening to politics since, so she'd stayed.

What she had been doing was getting lost in a little fantasy where the war was over, Rex was free from his life of servitude to the GAR, and they were travelling around the galaxy on an extended honeymoon, just enjoying the sights and making love as often as they felt like it on whatever relatively flat surface was available at the time and in a wide variety of positions that tested their athleticism.

When her core started to clench with need and her lekku started to tingle from all of the naughty images floating around her mind, Ahsoka dragged her thoughts out of the gutter with some determination. _Now's not the time for that. But later… When I'm in bed... Maybe I can catch Rex alone and have a little fun. And if he's not alone, then I might just have a little fun on my own anyway. Kriff, I'm horny now. _

As she shifted with impatience for 'later' to magically happen, Dormè caught her eye from across the balcony. The handmaiden's mouth twitched upwards ever so slightly, marking her amusement at how Ahsoka had yet to master the art of being still despite being an ex Jedi. Dormè, on the other hand, had learned how to imitate a statue long ago, which Ahsoka both envied and pitied. Ahsoka rolled her eyes at the older woman, inspiring a slightly more enthusiastic upwards twitch of her lips.

The Togruta wrinkled her nose at Dormè and then sighed quietly, letting the drone of the senators' voices carry her into more of a meditative state to help pass the time until she could legitimately call it a night and go to bed.

As her connection to the Force grew stronger, the subtle smile on her mouth quickly grew into a frown.

The Force felt… unsettled, as if something were happening. But it was faint, which meant whatever was going on wasn't anywhere near Coruscant. It could mean anything from an earthquake on a distant planet to a particularly bloody battle with many casualties which happened more often than she liked to think about.

Needing a little reassurance that whatever was wrong didn't involve her family, even though she'd just spoken to them not long ago and knew they were safely flying through hyperspace somewhere, Ahsoka concentrated on her bond with Rex.

His anxious, guilt, and fear filled emotions nearly knocked her to her knees as he suddenly dropped his shields. And then a second later, his words actually did. _"I'm so sorry, Soka. I love you."_

_"REX!" _she mentally screamed back, but he didn't hear her, his mind going suddenly blank with what she recognized as unconsciousness.

Trembling, and not hearing the concerned calls of the other people on the balcony with her as they rushed to her side, Ahsoka scrambled to follow her bond to Anakin while still keeping a tenacious hold on her awareness of Rex.

In a complete contradiction to Rex's emotions, Anakin was feeling downright triumphant as Ahsoka blasted into his mind just after he'd successfully piloted the not particularly nimble escape pod out of the wormhole. He registered her distraught presence immediately and barely had time to think, _"What's wrong, Snips?"_ before she literally yelled at him, _"WHERE'S REX?! WHERE'S MY REXI, ANAKIN?!"_

Anakin gasped and shot a look of despair at Obi-Wan, who popped to his feet from the chair behind him, his Master having caught an echo of Ahsoka's mental shout through their own bond. How do you tell your Padawan that you left her mate behind in a wormhole?

Ahsoka's anxiety literally shot through the roof when her Master was silent for seconds too long and his emotions started to match hers. _"I'm sorry, Ahsoka. The Reckless flew into a wormhole and we abandoned ship, but I don't know if he got off it or not. Can you sense him?"_

With some effort, Ahsoka steadied her breathing, realizing that she was very close to hyperventilating as Padmè rubbed her back and kept asking what was wrong. She concentrated on her bond with Rex, reassured that he was still there. _ "I can. He's uncon…"_

Her thought stopped abruptly as her connection to Rex suddenly disappeared and no matter how much she reached for him, she couldn't find him.

He was gone.

The fear and tears she'd been holding back took over and Ahsoka started sobbing in great gasps that shook her slender body. "He's gone," she whispered between sobs, knowing Anakin would hear the thought even if she didn't send it to him because she could still feel him in her mind.

"He's gone. He's gone. Oh Force, he's gone!" her voice escalated in volume with each cry, the last one almost a wail that made the Humans surrounding her wince. And then she broke down in helpless whimpers and more heaving sobs, trying to curl into herself to avoid the pain of losing her soulmate. She was oblivious to Anakin's comforting, apologetic, and sorrowful thoughts or Padmè's arms as the senator hugged her tight and whispered assurances of how she wasn't alone.

Ahsoka lost it, and didn't stop crying until her body literally shut down to avoid how much it hurt.

Padmè didn't stop rocking the unconscious girl, trembling hands still stroking her back lek soothingly from the couch where Bail had carried both of them to at some point. He and Mon had taken their murmured leave a few minutes ago, realizing there was nothing they could do to help. Tears glistened in her eyes as she rested her forehead between Ahsoka's montrals shutting out the sight of Threepio and Dormè hovering nearby anxiously. _"What do I do, Ani?" _she thought to her husband, who'd been in her mind for the last twenty minutes while Ahsoka cried and cried and cried until her throat had to be raw from the body wracking sobs.

She felt his fingers ghost over the back of her neck soothingly, easing the tension in her neck and shoulders. _"Can you bring her to me? I'd say take her to the Mind Healers at the Temple, but they won't help her anymore. I can't leave here until we've recovered as much as we can from the wormhole, which I hope includes Rex, and that could take days."_

_"I can. We'll be there as fast as possible."_

_"Thank you, Mey. You might want to sedate her for the trip, for her own good, until Obi-Wan and I can help her through this. Also… Do you think you could maybe bring another Venator with a cargo full of fuel canisters while you're at it?"_

Padmè sighed as she sent her husband a mental eye roll and hugged Ahsoka a little tighter as the girl whimpered in her sleep. _"I'll see what I can do."_


	7. Like A Top

****Like A Top:****

__Earth space, Dec 22nd, 1870__

Rex woke up just as their interceptor was spit out of the wormhole.

Crumpled up as he was, smushed in behind and somewhat to the side of the pilot's chair, Rex's first view when he opened his eyes was of his own helmet sitting on its side and his vambrace covered arm. With a sort of detached curiosity, he wiggled his fingers and was ridiculously amused to see them wave at him.

__Hi! __

He waggled his fingers again, only vaguely wondering why this so entertaining.

__I have two hands don't I? I wonder if I can make my other one wave?__

__Where is it?__

__Ah. Trapped under my body. That's all right. I just need to shift a little and...__

__Hi! __

Rex grinned dopily at his other hand as he made it wave at him. He wiggled his toes inside his boots and that made him even happier. Why, he had no idea.

__Look at me! I still work! And I'm still alive! __

__Wait. Alive? __

__Why wouldn't I be alive? __

His brows furrowed as Rex forced his loopy brain to start thinking rationally again. __Why AM I all squashed up like this? What's going on? __

And then memories flooded back and Rex tensed, all sense of playfulness gone now that he recognized his recent thoughts and actions as the first stages of how he reacted to oxygen deprivation; something he'd been extensively trained to work past. __Which means I need to check the systems and get this ship running again before anything else. __

__But... Shabla haran, I'm still alive!__

_"___Ahsoka! I'm still alive!" __he thought as loudly as he could, intrinsically compelled to let his precious mate know that very important detail.

But she didn't answer back right away, which she would have done if she was listening for him.

And he knew that she would be. She would have stayed mentally connected to him as long as she could no matter what it cost her; his cyar'ika loved him that much. It was one of the things that he adored most about her and had inspired him to break his training for her over; how she was so fiercely protective of him, and had been right from the first day they'd met, unlike nearly the entirety of the rest of the galaxy who only saw him as an expendable soldier only half a step up from a droid. If she had her way, he (and everyone else she cared about, which was a rather extensive list of Jedi and clone brothers) would never step foot on another battlefield.

He honestly couldn't wait to help fulfill that wish and settle down with her somewhere quiet and peaceful. (According to a blatantly hinting Anakin, Naboo fit that description.)

Despite knowing a second effort at contacting her would probably be just as fruitless as the first time, he mentally called out again.

_"___Ahsoka?!"__

Still nothing.

Sighing in defeat, petrified that she might think that he was dead, he grudgingly accepted that he must be too far from her now for her to connect to him anymore, thanks to the karking wormhole. Not for the first time, Rex wished with all of his being that he was Force sensitive as well so that they'd have twice as much range with their bond and so that he could sense her the way she could feel and talk to him. Originally, the thought of having someone project their thoughts into his mind had been extremely abhorrent to him, especially after that cold bitch, Ventress, had done so on Teth, but as he'd grown to love Ahsoka, he'd realized that he could trust in her to do literally anything she wanted to his mind and body and he'd be the happier for it.

The wonderful, caring, sexy, feisty, smart, beautiful, and flat out just PERFECT girl had never abused that trust in her, either, and he knew that she never would.

__I'll get back to you, baby, I promise. I just have to fly back through the wormhole. That's all.__

Even though he wasn't a highly skilled pilot like Anakin or some of his brothers, having been given no more than basic training with the flight instructors as a cadet and suffering through a few stomach churning lessons with Skywalker when they had time, Rex would do his utmost to return to Ahsoka or die trying.

Grunting, Rex managed to turn over onto his back and sit up, then instantly regretted it.

The fighter was spinning crazily on its axis like a simple child's toy, which he'd somehow managed to not notice yet since he was more or less in the center of the horizontal spin and he'd mistaken the whirling sensation to be another sign of poor oxygen. And to make it even worse, the view through the transparisteel bubble was doing its best to make him feel more than a little nauseous as it cycled much too quickly through the deep black of the wormhole filled with debris, the star speckled black of far off space filled with more debris, a pale moon, a bright sun, and a gem blue and green planet that he didn't recognize, not too far off in the distance.

He didn't manage more than a miniscule glance at Artoo to affirm that the droid was still in his socket.

__Really regretting that last bowl of stew right now.__

He closed his eyes in self-defence for a few seconds, and then didn't open them again until he'd moved his line of sight to the interior of the cockpit. Or, more specifically, Cody.

Cody, who was slumped limply forward against the control panel.

__Kriff. __

Rex struggled to right himself even further in the cramped space so he could crouch by his brother's side, but he did it. Once that undignified manoeuvre was accomplished, he gently pulled Cody back against the chair and cursed under his breath as he saw that the poor man's injuries had just doubled in the form of a nasty looking gash on his forehead that was probably going to add even more character to the scar that decorated the left side of his face. It was already starting to swell under the blood trail that wasn't helping anything.

Grimacing, Rex left his brother to bleed for a few more seconds while he figured out why their air supply was compromised.

The answer was quickly apparent when he looked at the blood covered main power switch that was now pointing downwards.

__Just karking great. __

Rex flicked the switch up to the ON position and waited with baited breath for the two endless seconds it took for the systems to come online. He exhaled again when the gentle hum of working parts started up again. __Thank kriff. __After only a brief inner debate, he choose to leave the engines off for now, just in case a minute or two of fuel usage meant the difference between surviving and not.

Within a few breaths, as he turned back to look Cody over more carefully, he could already feel the difference in the air quality, and thinking clearly became much easier.

It didn't help his peace-of-mind much, though, because Cody didn't look good.

Under the steady seep of blood dripping down his face and off his chin, his tan skin was about five shades too pale, and his breathing was shallow and pained sounding.

And there was still a metal bar sticking out of his side, which was no doubt leaking precious red stuff as well under the bodysuit.

__Shab. Where's Kix when you need him?__

__Thankfully not here in this mess, __he thought more realistically a second later.

Still ignoring the way the fighter was hurling through space without any guidance, Rex dug into one of the pouches on his belt and triumphantly came up with a battered but still sealed silver wrapper that contained an antiseptic wipe and a fresh bacta patch; the only one left in his scrawny supply of med supplies after the last battle where injuries had exceeded what the medics could keep up with at times. (Including himself, apparently.) The boys may have thoughtfully cleaned his kit for him while he was out, but none had thought to resupply his med pouch. __We'll be having a word about that. __

__Assuming I ever see them again, that is. __

__Kark. __

Rex was just about to rip open the package when another thought crossed his mind:

__Maybe I should keep this for his side. Surely that injury is worse than a bump on the head?__

Rex spent a few precious seconds being undecided before he clenched his fist in resignation and stuffed the healing patch back into his belt.

__But... Maybe Cody has one? __

Hope filled him again (but not too much, in case of disappointment). With his brother's laboured breathing as his only answer, Rex moved to open the appropriate pouch on Cody's utility belt, but a shift in the feel of the ship around him and something in his peripheral vision (which he'd been doing his darndest to ignore as he temporarily lamented his perfect eyesight) caught his attention.

__Frag! We're going to crash into the planet if I don't get this fighter running again!__


	8. The Star Spirit

**The Star Spirit:**

Nearly two years after giving Anna the crown to Arendelle, Elsa was lonely. (And possibly more than a little bored.)

In most ways, she had no right to be. She had a lovely, caring family, many friends, and what used to be a satisfying life as Protector of the Forest and all of the lands that she could reach within a day's hard ride on Nokk in any direction, be it over land or sea.

In other ways, the solitude that she generally chose to surround herself with was starting to eat at her happiness with each passing day. At the lavish twenty-sixth birthday party they'd thrown her yesterday, Anna and Kristoff had told her that she was going to be an aunt in roughly seven months. While overjoyed for them, she'd only wanted to run away from their blatant joy in each other and be alone to wallow in her own lack of lifemate.

But she was strong (and stubborn), so she'd stayed until the wee hours of the morning when the festivities had finally ended. But her heart had cried the entire time as she'd forced a mask of contented enjoyment on her face.

As she rode home to Ahtohallan in the deep shadows between the setting of the moon and the rising of the sun, slow tears had left frozen tracks on her face and were now just trails of ice that she wiped away with a disgusted hand. Everyone around her seemed to be in pairs, so many happy pairs. Even Olaf was falling all over himself to entertain Eva, the new snowperson that Elsa had brought to life for him as a companion last year when he expressed a desire for a friend of his own kind.

And that's what Elsa's biggest problem was; she had yet to find a man of her own kind to fall in love with.

No, he didn't need to have inexplicable powers like she did; that would be like asking for the moon as a present. But what she did want was someone who understood the responsibility of caring for so many people. Someone who wore leadership like a second skin. Someone who could make her feel special because she was just a girl and not someone they fell all over themselves in awe of.

Someone who could see past the tricks and flash of her powers to who she really was.

Despite meeting every eligible man descended from royalty from practically every country imaginable, Elsa had yet to encounter a single one who not only met her requirements but also made her heart skip a beat and her stomach flutter with butterflies.

"I should just accept that it's never going to happen for me," she murmured mournfully as she guided Nokk onto the shore of her glacier covered island of barren rock. He turned his shimmery head around as she slipped off his back and patted the liquid line of his neck in thanks.

As the Spirit of Water, her horse was as close to her as any being now after two years together and they'd developed a firm and unbreakable bond. His glowing, mirror-like eyes seemed to twinkle at her knowingly as he spoke in her mind like the gentle whoosh of the tide. _"You should trust more in the Spirit of the Stars, young one. Your story is only just beginning." _

Her hand froze in mid stroke. "The Spirit of the Stars? You've never mentioned this before."

_"The time was not yet right."_

She raised a skeptical eyebrow, as pale as her moonlight coloured hair. "Is that so?"

_"Yes." _

She swore the water horse was smirking at her. "What, pray tell, is this Spirit of the Stars?"

_"It is the everything that makes up everything, both here and high above."_

She snorted lightly and crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, thank you. That was very helpful."

_"I thought so," _he broadcast smugly, ignoring her sarcasm.

"Of course you did." She pointedly glanced up at the multitudes of stars in the cloudless sky above. "Sooooo. This everything, is it like a god, then?"

Nokk shook his head, sending water droplets flying everywhere, just missing her as she took a subtle step backwards. _"Not a god, not like you define one anyway. The Star Spirit knows all but commands nothing. It aids but doesn't require belief to do so. The Star Spirit is inside us all, but a few much more than most. The Star Spirit just… is."_

"I see." And maybe she did. A little. "Is the Star Spirit where my powers come from? Where life itself comes from?"

And now Nokk was nodding, radiating pride in her for her to soak in. _"The young, icy one is not so stupid."_

This brought out a bark of laughter in her. "Thanks."

_"You are welcome," _he thought back with all seriousness as he shifted his liquid hooves and turned back towards the Dark Sea.

"Wait!" she called.

He turned his head back over his shoulder and flicked his waterfall of a tail at her, just because. _"Yes?"_

She froze the droplets of water in midair before they could splash her and let them fall to the rocks like shards of soft glass. "You said my story is only just beginning; what did you mean by that?"

Nokk looked up at the stars. _"Can you not feel it? The stars shift. Something is coming. And I believe it is something for you."_

And with that, the water horse was gone, leaping into the churning sea and disappearing from sight.

She blinked after him, staring blankly at the waves. _Something for me?_

_The stars shift?_

_What in the world?_

Elsa tore her gaze off the hypnotic water and looked up at the stars again. They seemed stationary to her, in as much as they always were anyway in comparison to the spinning of Earth. _But… Maybe I do feel something. _

It was strange. She'd never tried to stretch her mental senses so far, never further than to call for Nokk or brush her mind against Anna's vibrant presence across the sea for reassurance. But now she closed her eyes and let herself almost literally reach for the stars above her.

And Nokk was right. Something up there was different. Unsettled.

_And scared? _

_Why do I feel…_

In that moment, a glowing ball of fire appeared far above her like a shooting star. But it wasn't. It was coming closer and was approaching the Dark Sea on a collision course faster than a snowball tumbling down a mountain.

Much faster.

_Oh, Spirits. That is going to make one heck of a splash. And possibly a tidal wave that might make it all the way to Arendelle again. _

_But what if I could slow it down?_

So that's exactly what she did.

First, she drew the moisture from the very air above her and pushed it against the ball of fire, which not only slowed it down but had the added benefit of cooling it off and revealing the vaguely triangular shape within the flames. As it came closer, she saw that it was smaller than she first thought; possibly no bigger than a sleigh.

_But definitely not one. _

Intrigued, but with no time to think on it, she waited for the object to come within a hundred or so paces of the sea and then sent a sheet of ice up to meet the object.

Her timing and angle were nearly perfect as it touched the ice with only a bit of a bump and bounce and then settled onto the large sweeping ice ramp she made, directing it towards herself and the shore of her island.

Maybe twenty breath-holding seconds later, she used a conjured pile of snow to stop the object only a few feet from the hem of her shimmery white skirt. A sweep of her hand and a whirlwind of snow put out the last of the flames. Another sweep and the object was as clean as possible and sitting in all of its scorched and unfamiliar glory in front of her to gawk at.

Including the very obvious fact that there were two armoured men in the object, one of which was staring at her with huge eyes through a glass-like bubble in the approximate center of the… space wagon? The other seemed to be bleeding and unconscious.

_Holy Spirits and all the little gods too! Did they really just come from… up there?_

Elsa stepped forward cautiously and then almost jumped out of her skin when the bubble popped open and pushed backward. "Shabla haran!" the awake man said as he stood up, still staring at her with massively wide eyes that gleamed in the dark of early morning. "Did you do that? Are you a Jedi?"

She didn't understand his first and last words, but the ones in the middle registered as slightly accented English, so she nodded with a shrug. "Yes, I did, and I don't know what a… Jedi?... is."

"Hunh," the bald (possibly? Hard to tell in the dark) soldier or knight (she assumed) said and then seemed to shrug it off as unimportant for the moment as he turned to his companion and visibly winced. "Right. Gotta get Cody out of here so I can help him. He's badly hurt."

It took her a moment to understand that the man wasn't going to fawn all over her for performing some sort of miracle, which felt extremely strange, but at the same time was very welcome. _But maybe he's just too concerned about his friend to care about me right now, _her cynical side provided.

As the soldier was trying to pick up his friend, eliciting a groan from the maybe-not-quite-as-unconscious-as-she-thought man, Elsa gave herself a mental smack for not prioritizing as well. "Wait! I'll get him out!" she said quickly.

The soldier paused and looked over his shoulder at her as a second set of eyes propped on the other shoulder opened into the barest of slits and focused on her. "You're sure?"

"Yes," she nodded, addressing the new eyes that seemed to ask the same question. "Step out. I can move him without aggravating his injuries further."

The hurt man closed his eyes in relief and the other one settled him as gently as possible back into the chair. Then the mobile soldier squatted down into the depths of the small sitting area and emerged again a few seconds later carrying two helmets. It was then a simple matter of him vaulting out and onto the wing of the craft she assumed was supposed to fly instead of fall. He stopped and squatted beside a blue dome on the scorched yellow wing and winced again, patting the dome. "Sorry, little buddy. I'll see if I can fix you in a bit."

Elsa hadn't a clue what or who the man was talking to, but she decided to figure that out later as well. For now, there was a hurt man who needed help. "Just try and stay relaxed," she told the grimacing and seated soldier.

He grunted softly in acknowledgement, so Elsa shifted a pile of snow into the craft and wrapped it around the man from shoulders to calves, temporarily turning some into a thin but unbreakable sheet of ice to slide under his rear and back. His eyes popped wide with surprise, which she tried not to smile at, and then, with a graceful gesture of her hands, she lifted her snow-encrusted man up and out of his space wagon.

As she brought him closer to her, she very carefully and slowly straightened him out so he was lying flat on a bed of floating snow, having seen the piece of metal sticking out of his side that most certainly couldn't belong there and not knowing what other injuries might be hiding under his armour. Lastly, she lowered his bed of snow to a large and mostly flat rock nearby, more or less putting him on a table. To give him credit, he only grunted under his breath once during the entire procedure.

"That's not how my General would have done it," the unhurt soldier said from right beside her, startling her, since she hadn't heard him move off the wing or walk up behind her. She covered the slight jump by looking sideways at him and raising a brow, sensing he wasn't finished his sentence. He wasn't. He smiled at her, white teeth gleaming and eyes crinkling at the corners. "But I have to say that you are most definitely a Jedi of some sort."

"Agreed," the prone man said in the same voice, if a little tighter from pain, startling her again.

_What?_

Elsa looked from one to the other and back again, finally seeing past the blood on the prone one's face, the underfed look of the unhurt one (in comparison), and the different hair colours and lengths (she could see now that the one wasn't actually bald but had a light shade of blond hair practically painted to the top of his head and the other had short black hair cropped short but not as near to this skull) that they were practically identical. _Twins. They must be. Ask later, though. Let's heal this one first. _

"I still don't know what a Jedi is, but I do have some powers," she admitted. "Mostly in regards to water in its coldest forms, But I do have a few other tricks that I think might be of help right now."

"Such as?" the blond soldier asked curiously. His lack of awe or surprise made her think that maybe, just maybe, he was familiar with a person who had powers similar to hers. _His General, most likely, based on what he said. And if that's the case, making their acquaintance is going to be very refreshing indeed. _

_And possibly very informative. _

_I wonder if they know of the Star Spirit?_

She pulled her thoughts back on track with some determination. "Such as the power to give and take life and thus the ability to heal," she said matter-of-factly as she used a corner of her skirt to wipe the blood off of the black haired one's face so she could see how bad the cut on his forehead was. His eyes met hers as she did so and she felt like she could feel every ounce of his pain and just how incredibly tired he was in more ways than just the physical. That disconcerted her more than she cared to admit, so she drew her gaze away from his and retreated to the much safer territory of his forehead instead.

_Not bad. Superficial. But, oh, what a scar! What happened to him?_

_War, obviously, _she answered her own question as she turned her attention to his battered and scratched armour that looked like it had been through more than a few battles.

"You can heal?" Blond said. "Really heal? Because not even my General can do that, and he's supposed to be the most powerful Jedi ever born. Never seen him do more than transfer some energy to help the wounded make it to a bacta tank."

She was starting to get the idea that Jedi meant someone like her; someone with powers. And bacta tank went into the growing list of things that she wanted an explanation for later. "Yes. I can. Please, help me remove Cody's armour. It helps if I see." (She'd heard Blond call him that earlier.)

"Oh. Yeah. Sure." Blond put the helmets down and had his brother stripped of his upper body armour in thirty seconds flat, leaving him wearing only a thick undershirt that clung like black water to every one of his impressive muscles. (Elsa was left blinking and trying not to blush.) Well, everything except for the abdominal plate that was pierced through by a piece of metal.

Blond looked at her and so did Cody, both of them clearly trusting her to make the next call.

Elsa bit her bottom lip momentarily, wrung her hands for half a moment until she made herself stop, and then nodded once, to herself more than anything. _I can do this. _

The discovery that she could heal actual wounds was a recent one and she had very little practice with it, prompted by a desperate bid to stop the bleeding of a bad cut that Kristoff had managed to give himself when chipping an ice block. At first, she'd just meant to freeze the area so it couldn't bleed anymore, but then she'd remembered that she could bring things to life (or even back to) by pouring her love into them, so she'd tried that and the next thing she knew, Kristoff's hand was completely healed and all of the old scars from similar injuries were gone.

_This is the same thing. Just bigger. And a bit more critical. _

_Don't talk yourself out of it now, Elsa._

"I'll pull it out," she said as confidently as she could, "and then I need you to strip him the rest of the way down to his waist as fast as you can, okay?"

"Got it," Blond said with a firm nod.

She glanced at Cody. His teeth were gritted, but he nodded slightly as well, more with the eyes than anything. And then he even gave her a flicker of a smile. _What a brave man. _

She wrapped the fingers of her right hand around the bar of metal and looked at the blond brother again, who had his hands poised as well. "Ready?"

"Ready."

Cody somehow bit off a scream as she pulled out the shrapnel. Blond had the abdominal plate and the black undershirt open down to the waist in about eight seconds flat, revealing too many old scars on the uncovered and hard chest. And she had her hands over the now gushing wound in his side only half a second after that.

Elsa froze it first, making Cody gasp. And then she gathered all of the love she could muster into her and then poured it directly into Cody via her hands, not sure how damaged he was on the inside. She thought of how much she loved her sister, adored her brother-in-law and his practically sentient reindeer, remembered the love of her parents, the love she had for Nokk, Bruni, Gale, and even the slow-witted but surprisingly playful Earth Giants, and used it all to fuel the healing of Cody.

She could feel it working under her hands, the sense of rightness filling her even as her energy level drained alarmingly, but it wasn't until Blond sucked in a breath and said, "Karking hell," that she opened her eyes to see her progress that she understood the enormity of what she'd done.

Cody, who she would have said had to be at least thirty years old, was now scar free from head to waist (and she assumed all the way to his toes as well) and his face bore the fresh, healthy look of a male in his early twenties at the most. Despite not being able to tell what colour his grateful eyes were in the dark, she knew one thing for absolutely sure; _He's beautiful and I think my heart just skipped a beat._

_Or maybe that was just exhaustion, _her cynical side piped up again as her knees collapsed and everything went black.


End file.
